I think I hear them calling
by LunaLoveklaine
Summary: Beth has never moved before. But she is still sure, that normally people wouldn t react so strangely when hearing her name. While she struggles to adapt to her new school, she also starts uncovering the story of her adoption ...
1. Chapter 1

_**A/N**: So, this is my try on the Beth story. I want to focus on a little more than just the usual finding the biological parents storyline, Beth´s relationship with her adoptive mother and background is as important to me. Also, there will be plenty of "old" characters returning ..._

_I´ve done a couple chapters so far, if you like it, leave motivating reviews or constructive criticism - Anyway, thanks for reading!_

_**Summary:** Beth Corcoran is a promising talent of the popular high school glee club Vocal Adrenaline. Her life is centered around performances, and she is happy with that. But when her adoptive mom Shelby decides to move to Lima, Ohio, her life takes an interesting spin. Not only does she have do adapt to a totally different lifestyle – she also notices some locals behave rather strangely around her. And it has something to do with her adoption for sure ..._

_**Disclamer: **I don´t own any characters and settings of "Glee". But I would like to._

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><p>„One, two – step! One, two – step! Aaand spin around! Boys, pick the girls up. You can do better than that, higher!"<p>

The man's voice sounded loud and clearly to the lit up stage, where about twenty boys and girls in skilfully frayed dresses and spotted jumpsuits in various shades of grey tried to nail the choreography to the 00´s classic "Disturbia" by Rihanna.

Slightly irritated by their director's input, the background singing faded away and the good-looking lead shot a deadly look at his team mates.

"Stop it right now!", they were interrupted, the command being yelled in the most annoyed tone possible.

Beth sighed quietly, making sure Mr. St. James - Stames, as they called him - didn't notice, and looked up to the clock.

A quarter to seven. Only fifteen freaking minutes of torture left.

It was the last week before their performance at Sectionals, and even though their other number would already be enough to let the other groups to mass shave their heads, wanted them to be as intimidating as possible.

She really hoped their future competition would check their performance out and get the message, otherwise this never-ending practicing really wouldn't have a point.

"From the top!"

They all took their positions, a perfectly organized mob in the middle of the stage, with Aaron standing in front, ready to start singing. Beth and her friend Jackie came right behind him, each holding on to one of his shoulders, about to take over the parts of the song that were too feminine to him.

_Bum bum be-dum bum bum be-dum bum…_

All arms went synchronous up and down in sharp, robotic moves.

_What's wrong with me?_

_Why do I feel like this?_

It was only those two lines that Beth had a solo on for most of the song, but they had done it so many times that everything about them went down without her even trying – the voice, the expressions, the slight movement of her hips.

_I'm__ going crazy now_

As Jackie belted out her line as perfectly as ever, they started to thin out the bunch, marching in arcs to various corners of the stage, the angle between shin and thigh always a wonderful 90° when lifted.

_No more gas in the rig__  
><em>_Can't even get it started__  
><em>_Nothing heard, nothing said__  
><em>_Can't even speak about it_

Reaching her spot she joined Drew, her assigned dance partner for the number, even though she couldn't stand him. But he was just a head taller than her and of the same dance talent, so they had to do it together.

She knew all the steps in her sleep by now, even though they were quite complicated. As she mechanically spun around Drew, her mind wandered off the stage.

Sometimes she wondered why she had joined Vocal Adrenaline in the first place. Her mom had directed it once, sure, and she also enjoyed singing and dancing a lot, having grown up with music. However, Carmel high's glee club was almost more cruel than it had been in the past.

They literally practiced every day, including weekends and holidays, when they got weeks close to a performance.

Usually, they didn't get out before their bodies and throats were sore, and still they were expected to show up at full health the other day again.

Today wasn't even that bad though, Beth still had some energy left and they would be done anytime. Even Mr. St. James must've realized that there wasn't a lot left to improve.

_Your mind is in disturbia__  
><em>_It's like the darkness is the light__  
><em>_Disturbia_

That was her signal. The only part of the choreography that made her a little shaky before.

She breathed in heavily before she took a run-up right into a triple flip in the middle of the stage, flying closely past Fraser who came from the other direction.

Still a little dizzy from the rotation, she turned around and ran back, jumping simultaneously in the air with Fraser as they met, so it almost looked like they crashed into each other for the audience. Beth pulled her head and arms back violently for the effect.

Blending into the group again, she was a little breathless.

But the also felt the rush of her small solo performance which remembered her finally about the reasons, why she was here exactly – because she loved to be great.

_Bum bum be-dum bum bum be-dum bum_

_Bum bum be-dum bum bum be-dum bum_

They slowly walked mid-stage again, moving their limbs to the beat of the music. After they'd sung the last note, they let their heads fall down to their chests, their hands pressed at both temples, legs spread.

It took about twenty seconds until St. James finally called: "OK, guys. We're done for today."

Flexing and stretching, they started to wander off, as he added: "But we're not there yet. Abby, your dancing is even worse than the last time – how did you manage that? Aaron, I want you to stay up this night and rehearse this song until it turns into tinnitus, am I clear?"

Jackie frowned at Beth as she made her way towards her, while Abby stood still, her face red-hot from embarrassment.

"And Beth …" Her head went straight up to the teacher´s desk as she heard her name softly spoken.

"Just because your mother used to sit here doesn´t mean you get any special treatment. Don´t even think you can pull the privileged one."

She bit her tongue to not give an answer to that, as it would definitely end up getting her expelled.

"Just shut up, Jesse", she whispered to herself instead. Not only had her mom once coached Vocal Adrenaline, Jesse St. James had been their lead singer at that point. He still came over for coffee sometimes.

The times her teacher showed up at her house, he always came across all smooth and nice and polite, but as soon as they got back to school, he definitely had it in for her.

Maybe he was just trying to not treat her better because of their out-of-school-history and let others feel disadvantaged. Or maybe he was just a giant douchebag.

However it might be, she didn´t like him.

"He´s a meanie", Jackie muttered under her breath as they went to the dressing rooms. She was a nice girl once you got to know her better, a slim brunette with eyelashes to die for and a personality like a shark – once she smelled blood, she would be there to get her share.

To other people outside of glee club, she would appear quite snobby, but she was fun to hang around and so she and Beth were friends, as simple as that.

"I wish he would have at least _tried_ to coach at another school than his own", Abby joined in as they walked into the dressing room.

"I seriously don´t see his problem." That was Abby – she never saw the problem. At least, when the problem had something to do with her.

"Yeah", Beth agreed half-hearted, while she peeled herself out of her dress and changed into a pair of sweatpants and a tank top.

As she checked her blonde hair in the mirror, Nora, a pretty half-corean girl walked in, instantly grinning as she saw Beth.

"You were great today, girl! I mean, you _own_ the stage when you dance …", she chatted exitedly, not bothering about the annoyed expressions on the other girl´s faces.

Those three were the ones Beth hung out with the most. Jackie, Abby and Nora. They didn´t always have identical views, they definitely had their flaws and sometimes Beth got pretty weary of them, but they were the closest thing to friends she would have anytime soon.

Vocal Adrenaline made it kind of impossible to be friends with people not in Vocal Adrenaline.

She put her green head band on, which made her look a little bit like a hippie, before she made her way towards the door.

"See you tomorrow!", she waved goodbye, not waiting for the replies.

For a few moments in the empty hallway, she could catch her breath.

It was only Tuesday, so there were three more days of rehearsal until eight, one twelve-hour day and one I´m-so-nice-and-let-you-only-come-in-for-the-night day.

So no big parties tonight. She would probably watch a movie or something. Maybe taking a bath.

"Hey Beth!", she suddenly heard her name called out, right before she reached the exit doors.

"Yeah?" She turned around rather confused, to see Drew racing toward her.

"You got any plans for tonight?", he asked even before he was in her range.

Then he did this extremely stupid thing when he flipped his hair with a shake of his head and grinned like a mad man afterwards.

She didn´t even try to sound polite. Too many times that Drew had tried that on her.

"Back off, bumpkin", she snapped back and rolled her eyes.

"My mom invited Aaron over for dinner tonight." That wasn´t true, but the lie slipped off her tongue easily.

She wasn´t too eager to encourage Drew any more. The one time she´d made the mistake of not having any plans in front of him, he had teased her about the apparent crisis she had with Aaron and pretty much everyone else in her life.

He didn´t even seem to _like_ her. Probably he was just going for her so he could brag about it and make her feel miserable. He had successfully done that with other girls before, though luckily only one of them had been in VA – otherwise, the team´s atmosphere would have gone down the drain for sure.

"C´mon, he can make his own food." Nope, he didn´t give up.

"Shut up, will you?", Beth replied angrily and turned around.

Not able and willing to put up with him anymore she paced forward and shoved the door right in his face as he tried to follow her.

Aaron already waited in the parking lot for her. She just smiled at him tiredly and he nodded towards his car, returning the smile.

They were together long enough to be past that stage where you were glued to each others face all the time and practically jumped the other person whenever you saw them alone.

Beth liked the way of their relationship, how it was just so natural. Like they had grown up dating.

It was tradition that he drove her home after practice. At the same time, they could spend the entire drive in silence without feeling uncomfortable or the need to break it.

Both of them were able to take a break when they needed it.

The first year they´d been dating was also her first year in Vocal Adrenaline, something that made her realize: VA + honeymoon stage with boyfriend = not a good mixture.

Rehearsing that much for the first time in her life and trying to see Aaron as much as possible at the same time had caused her grades to drop drastically, while she walked around with dark circles like tires under her eyes.

Thank god that time was over. And she still had her boyfriend, who just happened to be the most talented singer of the most famous glee club around.

"Tired?" he asked, grinning.

Beth glared at him. "We are going to compete against that football school that has never even participated in a choir competition before, a bunch of nerd kids who can´t possibly do more than robot moves and ICQ jingles, and that school from last year with the girl that breaks out in tears whenever the misses a note. Which was, by the way, quite a lot."

She sighed, as Aaron waited patiently for her speech to be over.

"And yet we´re there, late in the auditorium, every single night, as if we would compete with the best teams of the entire universe! As if Marsians would care!"

Aaron tilted his head slightly as he pulled out of the parking lot.

"Well, we have some tough competition coming up for Regionals, though. I´m sure Stames tries to get us ready for them already", he explained thoughtfully.

"Wait, what do you mean "tough competition"?" she asked confused. "Those Warblers, from three years ago? I´ve seen them. They were decent, but nothing we couldn´t handle."

In her mind she tried replaying all the various show choir competitions she had been to in her live. There were plenty. Different Sectionals and Regionals throughout Ohio, quite a few national championships, invitationals, performances in other states … her mom couldn´t stay away from show choir, and she dragged her daughter along every single time.

"No, not the Warblers", Aaron got her back from her thoughts, "They´re in another section this year. I was talking about New Directions."

Beth winced. New Directions were a sensitive topic. VA had beaten them at Regionals with her mom, right in the year of her birth.

But that had been the last year of them competing in the same Regionals, and the beginning of an never-ending fight for the national championship. Sadly, there were only three out of seventeen years when Vocal Adrenaline had placed better than New Directions.

And now they would compete against them _before_ Nationals?

"No way!", she gasped. "Are you sure?"

Her boyfriend shrugged. "Not entirely. But it sounds possible to me."

"Wow." She leaned back, processing the information.

For some strange reason, she had never seen New Directions. The last year she had been sick during nationals, and the year before she was pretty sure they had performed at the same time as them in another theatre.

And all those times she had come along with her mother … no New Directions. Maybe they were so good that it was hard to get to watch their shows. She had only heard people talk about them.

Whatever the reason was, she felt strange about it.

As familiar as she was with the show choir scene, they were nothing but a name to her. She couldn´t tell what made them so good, she couldn´t put a finger on their secret of success, she could only guess.

When Aaron dropped her of, she was deeply buried in her thoughts again.


	2. Chapter 2

_**A/N**: I really like the thought of Shelby starting to be a giant softie because of Beth, so I put it that way. With the whole adoption thing ... there´s probably more conflict you could put in that, but I decided to stay simple. Enough drama coming up later on ;)_

_So, here´s the next chapter! _

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><p>„Hey mom, I'm home!", Beth called as she put down her bag and kicked off her sneakers. As her voice echoed through the house, Antoinette, the German shepherd, raced downstairs and jumped at her, panting happily.<p>

The dog was fourteen now and started to get lazy, but whenever a Corcoran woman came home, she still welcomed them.

"Sorry Tony, no playing right now, OK?" She apologized and hugged her. Antoinette pulled her head back in disappointment and trotted back upstairs to her warm fleece.

"Put down your shoes properly, honey!", Beth's mom called from the basement.

Beth groaned and picked up the sneakers, placing them next to the wardrobe with the coats.

Soon after, she heard the washing machine start running.

"I didn't expect you that early", Shelby Corcoran smiled, walking up the stairs. Her features were firm, carved in marble. Everything about her sent out the impression of a strong woman, except for when she smiled. Then she softened all up, and there wasn't one person in the world you would trust more in that moment. Luckily, she smiled a lot.

"I guess we're just that good", Beth replied sheepishly.

"Don't you dare even suggesting that, young lady!", Shelby said with wide open eyes, pretending to be shocked. "When I was running that business, those kids would never get home before nightfall, especially with a competition coming up! You young people need some discipline …"

She put her hands on her hips and tried to maintain a serious face.

Beth glared at her for about five seconds, then she cracked and hugged her.

"Just come upstairs, I'll warm up some pasta for you. I'm sorry that I already ate, but I was hungry."

They had talked about this many times. Beth knew that her mom had been very strict during her time as a coach, and that most of the stuff she had to go through with Vocal Adrenaline every day was her mom's heritage. But she also knew that Shelby regretted being so consumed with perfection, and seeing her own daughter grow up, she disapproved more and more with the rules she had set herself.

Not that she could do anything about it, now that she had retreated from show choir. At least, working with show choirs.

Carmel high had paid her enormous wages, since Vocal Adrenaline was the most precious thing that ever happened to that school, so after retiring she could easily buy a small house with a nice garden and get a dog without having to worry about the money.

Beth couldn't remember their first dog, a dachshund named Freckles, since Shelby inherited him at age sixteen from the former house owner and he died while she was still a toddler.

Along with all the changes in Shelby's life came Beth, right with the house and the garden and the dog, and the first years of her life Shelby really did nothing but caring for her and doing some occasional garden work. I was only when she started school that her mother eventually got a part-time job, just so she wouldn't be bored out of her mind every morning.

They lived from her wage from then on, what was left of her "showbiz money", as Shelby called it, was saved for college.

She didn't even try to get back into show business, besides one small community theater role when Beth was ten.

Sometimes, Beth found it hard to believe what she had given up just to raise her and live a normal life with her.

She knew that she was adopted. There was really no reason for not knowing, as Shelby had told her, they didn't love each other any less because of that. Shelby called Beth her daughter, and Beth called Shelby her mom. She reserved the term "mother" for her biological mother, though, just to tell the difference. Not that it really _made_ a difference.

They had settled this the first time Beth asked about her father.

"There is no father, I adopted you." Much easier than inventing an awkward story about some guy who might have died, run away or gotten a divorce, for none of those would have been any less shocking then the truth. And they were lies after all.

In their little family, lies were a bad thing.

Another thing about her adoption was their mutual agreement not to talk about her biological parents. For some years, Shelby would just brush away her questions, joking or telling her that she was still too young.

They had sat down over that as soon as Beth was old enough, both nervous about the results.

Although Shelby felt uncomfortable with the thought that her daughter might get interested in reuniting with her real parents, she also didn't want to keep anything from her she wanted to know.

For Beth, the thought of knowing everything about her background was tempting, but scary as well. What if her mother was some random bitch who had been too stupid to use protection, sleeping around with any guy she'd meet?

And it _had_ something to do with teenage pregnancy, Shelby revealed - so she didn't have to worry about the usual question, the reason why her mother had given her up.

In the end, she decided against knowledge. She was adopted, great. But Shelby was her mom, and she didn't want any touchy back story to get in their way.

Maybe someday she would learn about it. Until then she liked to pretend that her mom was her mother.

"Did you do the flip again?", her mom asked as she sat down at the table and ate the pasta.

"Mmh", Beth answered, her mouth full.

"How many times?"

Beth choked down the content of her mouth before she said: "Four."

Shelby leaned back, tipping her fingers on the table.

"Jesse shouldn't let you do it too much. Once or twice a day is more than enough … it's still quite dangerous, on the solid stage. I can't believe you're so talented, though. I couldn't even do a cart wheel."

The younger Corcoran laughed. "I probably have that from … " – _One of_ _my parents_, she wanted to add, but she wasn't sure if that crossed the line.

"..TV", she completed instead and grabbed for the bowl, only to find it empty.

"Isn't there any more food?", she complained, "I'm starving!"

Her mom raised her eyebrows.

"Please", she added, trying the puppy eyes. It worked.

"I'll make you some sandwiches", Shelby sighed and got up to the kitchen counter.

"Thanks, mom. I love you!" Beth shot her the best smile she was capable of at that moment, causing her to laugh out.

"Aaron told me we'll be getting new competition for Regionals this year", she told, taking a sip from her diet coke.

"Shouldn't you win Sectionals first?", the older woman considered loudly while putting some salad on the sandwiches.

"Oh, you _know_ we're going to win alright!" Beth grimaced at her.

"Nah, but I'm worried about those guys. They gonna be good."

Shelby opened the fridge. "Mayonnaise or mustard? And who are those mysterious people that get my gorgeous daughter so concerned?"

"Mustard. This group that got half of the last centuries´ national championships, the New Directions."

For a brief moment, her mother froze.

Then she put the mustard back in the fridge and brought the sandwiches over to the table.

As she sat down, she chuckled a little.

"The New Directions. I see."

Beth grimaced. "What about `um?"

"We have … history", her mom replied, smiling to herself.

"Like you didn't know!", she added to the questioning expression on her daughters face.

Once she kept that, Shelby laughed and went on.

"So I guess I will tell you more then …" Something in her voice changed. She stared out of the window as she trailed off.

"They hadn't been out for competition for a while. Went to sectionals as complete underdogs, but they were good. The weirdest bunch of people to form a show choir for sure, but a good bunch. I was a little concerned, too, as I watched them. They were serious competition. So I smuggled Jesse in."

She laughed. "Yes, the same Jesse who coaches _your_ glee club now."

Mr. St. James, a spy? Beth liked that story.

"He befriended and eventually dated their lead singer." It almost seemed like she wanted to add something to that, further information, a name maybe. But her mouth closed and opened again.

"It was a mess. Things went out of plan pretty soon, when he actually _liked_ her. New Direction's teacher almost got me, but I convinced him that we had no bad intentions. I even let Jesse transfer for that girl. He got back soon enough. Our kids had a little fight going on, close to Regionals, it was hilarious!"

Shelby laughed again, her eyes sparkling.

"I had to run over to their school a couple of times, they were damaging our cars and everything. But yeah, we won Regionals and later Nationals. Good times."

Her voice had a melancholic touch to it.

"That was the year I was born, wasn't it? The year you stopped coaching and became my mom instead", Beth said quietly. Her mom had sounded like the missed that, so why would she give it up just then?

Shelby leaned back and bit her lip, thinking of a good answer.

"Those New Directions made me realize what I was missing out. They were nothing like us, they had actually fun. Their program wasn't about perfection, it was about them. That kind of … touched me. The victory didn't feel that good anymore."

She stared somewhere in the distance behind Beth, making her wonder if there was more unspoken.

"So, why have I never seen them?", Beth finally asked, when she knew there wasn't anything coming.

Shelby looked at her in surprise, but she caught herself rather quickly.

"After all, they make me feel a little uncomfortable … I'm avoiding them, I guess. Not intentionally – their Sectionals and Regionals often cut in with ours and at their last Invitational we _really_ had to go and visit your grandmother … But you have the right to be worried, Beth", she concluded, "Judging by the records, they have developed their unique style. They are different, and that's their strength. You've got a nice competition coming up. I really should go and see them again …"

She got up and petted Beth's hair before she went downstairs to look for the laundry.

Beth cleaned up the kitchen, stopping at the fridge.

Besides plenty of pictures of her and her mom, a couple of her and Aaron and a little less Shelby with Taylor, the guy she was currently seeing, there was one faded cut out of a newspaper.

It was entitled "Close call at show choir Regionals", an article about their victory back in 2010. A picture of the three show choirs, lined up on stage right before the judges came on, went with it. Beth could only guess where her mom was standing, since the picture was too small and blurry to properly recognize any faces. "_Vocal Adrenaline, Aural Intensity, New Directions_ …", she traced the three different groups.

She thought about doing some research on them. It was likely that her mom kept a copy of the performances that night somewhere, the whole basement was filled with old recordings.

But no, there was no reason to worry about it just yet. She had to concentrate on Sectionals first.


	3. Chapter 3

_**A/N**: So thanks KatieHaller and Ggfanatic1993 for your reviews! I highly appreciate them!_

_So, I know the events are a little rushed in this chapter, but I really _want_ Beth to go to McKinley alright ... I made the distance that long, because otherwise it woudn't make sense for her to never have seen the New Directions before. And I think, two hours could be handled by all the characters in Season 1 driving from one school to the other._

_Enough said, next chapter is up!_

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><p>By the time the Saturday rehearsal was over, Beth wasn't capable of feeling anymore.<p>

She had slipped once during the flip which made Mr. St James finally realize that it wasn't the best thing to make her do it every single time they ran the number. Luckily she didn't fall too hard and Aaron helped her up right away.

For the rest of the day she only pretended to go into the flip, she simply jumped up instead.

She was too flexible – and talented – to loose right before the competition.

Since Sunday was the only day they could actually sleep in, they decided to have a sleepover at Beth's house.

Of course, Aaron and Jackie came along, but Nora and the twins Haley and Kyle joined them as well, leaving no spare seat in Jackie's truck. Abby had to go home anyways – her mother was very strict about church attendance on Sunday mornings.

Usually, Beth wasn't allowed to have boys staying over the night, even though one of them was Aaron and the other one just a quiet sophomore who was as polite and correct as possible, but Shelby was over at that Taylor's place for the weekend, leaving her home alone.

Not that she was going to do anything irresponsible, she just didn't see the point of the no-boys policy. There was nothing going to happen anyways.

As soon as they got home, the just sprawled all over the living room, watching "Reaching the top", a recently released movie about a nerd who tried to become the most popular kid of his school.

Nothing special, but very relaxing to watch.

Beth snuggled up with Aaron, trying not to fall asleep too soon, as Nora kept rambling about every scene coming up, joined by some snappy remarks from Jackie and occasional uproar of laughter from the twins.

They ordered some pizza, drank diet coke and started gossiping about Mr. St James as soon as the movie was done.

"I swear I will end up in the hospital when he doesn´t give us a break after Sectionals", Haley said, her arms crossed.

"I'm sure they would get you on drugs then, just to keep you moving", Kyle contradicted immediately, causing Nora to laugh out hysterically and lean her head against his shoulder.

"There is really no way that we're loosing this year. I mean, since Mallory and Greg graduated last year, we have our power couple over there taking over. And there's no chance anyone is more talented than them", she chattered, bouncing up and down the couch just a little.

"Thanks for the flowers", Aaron grinned and winked at Beth.

Actually, he was the only real lead. The one outstanding performer most of the numbers were centered around. Beth slowly got some small solos, both dancing and singing, but that was a lot considering the fact that for years there would be only one person to step out of the lines at all.

She was a little jealous of him. They had both started as unnamed last-liners, making up their way to the fabulous front step by step as they were both great performers, but eventually Aaron had been picked to be the one. A good looking boy usually scored better than a pretty girl.

Beth had convinced herself that it was entirely St. James´ fault, so she didn't have to be angry at her boyfriend for being better than her.

"Hey, I really wanna watch some horror movie right now", Jackie suddenly cried out. "Who's in?"

"Yay!", Nora cheered, hugging Kyle who smiled awkwardly.

Aaron looked at Beth and she nodded in agreement, so he said yes for both of them.

Haley only groaned, but she didn't protest.

It wasn't a very interesting horror movie, though. By the time it was finished, they all were already asleep.

"Beth!"

The happy voice coming from the entrance upstairs made her eyes fling open, pressing them together again as the sun blinded her.

Then she realized that it was her mom that had called, and she jumped off the couch immediately, not caring about the backache she had from her unnatural sleeping position.

Panicking, her eyes flew around the room, where everybody else was fast asleep.

Even if she managed to wake them up silently and drag them out of the back door, there were still pop cans and pizza cartons enough for evidence.

Why did her mom come home this early anyways? She _always_ stayed for lunch at Taylor's.

Maybe they'd broken up. But she sounded too happy for that.

"Beth, I … Oh."

The girl shut her eyes in embarrassment. Shelby's eyebrows rose instantly as she recognized the two boys, who where starting to wake up right now.

"I think it's time for you guys to leave", she said quietly, looking around the bunch of sleepy teenagers who seemed quite confused about their wake up alarm.

Once they realized what was going on, they hurriedly packed their stuff and rushed out the door, not without treating Beth a look of pity.

Aaron was the last one to leave. "Sorry, darling", he whispered as he passed his girlfriend, squeezing her hand tightly.

After the door shut behind him, Shelby turned around to her daughter.

Stone faced she waited, her arms crossed.

"We were just watching movies", Beth explained weakly, the shame of getting caught breaking the rules burning hot in her stomach.

"Beth, we had an agreement here. No boys."

"I'm sorry", she whispered thinly. "But mom, you know me. We didn't have the chance to properly meet up in _ages_!"

Shelby sighed, and Beth knew she'd won already.

" I would ground you, but I know for sure that you won't be getting out of this house voluntarily anytime soon, not with VA. The worst punishment would probably be to force you to run three miles every night or get on the home trainer, and there's no way I'm doing that."

Beth felt relieved, as her mom didn't sound that mad. After all, she still joked around.

"You have Sectionals coming up in three days. If there is a victory party, you won't be going. We talk about further actions then, okay?"

The blonde girl nodded quickly. It was a shame that she couldn't attend the party, but it could have been harder.

Gosh, her mom was always so fair. It was almost impossible to be mad at her, since Beth could understand pretty much everything she did – and if she couldn't she got it explained.

She loved that about their relationship. Once they had talked about something, it was settled.

"So … why are you home so early", she asked after a while. "Does Taylor have an appointment today?"

Shelby grinned at her happily.

"No, I'll run back after lunch. I need to talk to you."

Beth frowned. What was that supposed to mean?

"Come on." Her mom dragged her along to the kitchen table, making her sit down facing her.

"Beth, honey", she began seriously, causing her daughter to make up a thousand scenarios what was going to follow.

"You know Taylor and I have been dating for a couple months now."

_Oh god, __he's going to move in_, Beth thought shocked.

"It's different than with the guys I've seen before. I'm in love with him, and I couldn't even think about a life without him anymore."

_Cheesy, but still sweet._

That broad smile on Shelby's face was extremely endearing.

"Beth", she repeated all of the sudden, taking her hands and looking right into her eyes.

"You must now that I love you, too, more than anyone else. But the one thing that was always missing in my perfect life, was a husband …"

Beth almost chocked. "You're going to marry him?", she asked in disbelief.

"I mean, I've seen him only like four times, and I've really talked to him just once!"

"Twice, honey", Shelby corrected her, her happiness not dimmed a bit.

She reached out to stroke Beth's cheek.

"He asks us to move in with him", she whispered then. "It's a more than two hours drive to his place, so we wouldn't have to spend out free time driving anymore. He's a really nice guy, and he has a nice house as well. He would me more than willing to share that with us three", she explained, including Antoinette in their planning.

Beth was stunned. "But … but school… Aaron, my friends … Vocal Adrenaline!" she stuttered.

Shelby took a deep breath. "I know it's a big thing I'm asking for. But I would pay for as much gas money as you need to see Aaron and your friends. Kids transfer all the time, it's something you will manage. And for Vocal Adrenaline … I know what I'm talking about when I say that it doesn´t necessarily hurt to quit."

She couldn't believe what her mom just told her.

"Wow" she breathed. "Wow."

"It must sound like an awful thought to you, dear, I know. But you can take it as an opportunity, you know? Make new friends, step out of your comfort zone. You're a junior now, there are less than two years left before you have to go to college anyways. You can see this as practice to adapt to a new environment."

"But I'm totally fine here!", Beth yelled angrily. There was no way that her mom suggested that so calmly. "I'm going to major in show choir anyways, so there's no better school than Carmel high to prepare for that! I will be great!"

"That's what Jesse said", Shelby replied calmly.

"What?"

"He had been the golden boy for four years at this school, being treated like a prince. Reality caught up rather quickly. He dropped out after the first semester. If it wasn't for the grateful Vocal Adrenaline booster club, he'd be homeless today."

Beth stopped glaring at her in anger to make sure she'd understood right.

"Wait, Mr. St. James is a college dropout?"

Shelby nodded heavily. "I know you're a smart girl, Beth, but I'm afraid that could happen to you, too. You love Vocal Adrenaline, but there is more to live for than just this glee club."

That was too much.

Beth jumped up, her face red and her eyes burning.

"So you don't even want me to be in VA, right? You're just jealous, that's it! But don't try to ruin my life just because you can't be a star anymore!"

She stormed out, intentionally stomping as she took the steps.

"Let me know, honey", her mom said softly, as if she only needed a little time to think.

But that wasn't the case.

She slammed her bedroom door as loudly as possible, before she threw herself onto the mattress and cried in her pillow.

How could Shelby be that selfish? All acting like she had great news, just to tell her she would have to leave everything her life was about!

Just because she had been dating a guy for longer than three months who didn't turn out to be a giant douche at second sight.

And other than her mom and that Taylor dude, she and her friends didn't have the time to drive more than two hours, just one way, to meet up.

There was no way she was able to sacrifice about six hours a day just to _eat dinner_ with Aaron. She didn't even know yet where Taylor lived, it could be some boring dump with nothing to do ... Not that it was any better here. She just didn't notice with all the rehearsals.

Beth grimaced as she realized that her mom had been at least a little right – she knew nothing of life outside of VA. Damn, she didn't even know the names of her classmates.

Vocal Adrenaline had been enough to fill her up – she'd never thought about the future, after VA, before.

Wow.

She spread her arms and legs as wide apart as possible.

It was stupid of her to call her mom selfish. She had done so much – first of all she had probably saved her from a life of poverty with an overwhelmed teenage mother.

And she had always given in for Beth – she set her entire life around her daughter's.

Actually, it was about time that she did something for herself.

All of the sudden, Beth felt terrible for yelling at her.

She got up and fixed her hair, before she started pacing though her room.

Missing the torturous Vocal Adrenaline practices wasn't too bad. She had been privileged, that had made her like it. The thought of just leaving them was frightening, as she never even thought about it before, but checking it out more closely, it was also a chance to not have her life ruled by some mean dropout. Her friends there weren't worth it either, they weren't even that close. And Aaron … She sighed. That was the only bad part.

But she would be able to handle it, for her mother's sake.

She focused before she got up again, barely ten minutes after she had stormed out so dramatically.

Shelby sat were she had left her, the hint of a smile on her face. Of course she knew that her daughter would come back.

"So you made up your mind?", she asked carefully.

"Yeah", Beth nodded, her voice still sounded a little muffled.

"So, when are we going to move?"

Her mom laughed happily and pulled her into a hug.

"I was thinking about next weekend. I already found a new job at a travel agency over there, and I've talked to the school's principal. We only have to tell Carmel and pack our stuff before we move over."

"Wow", Beth mumbled again, a little shocked over the fast pace of events. "You're good mom. What's that town called?"

Shelby took a step back.

"I don't know if that's a good or a bad thing … it's Lima. You will be going to William McKinley high."

Beth frowned, trying to get what her mom wanted to tell her with that.

Then it clicked.

"That's the New Directions school!", it escaped her lips.

Her mom was right, she really didn't know if that was a good or a bad thing.

She would think about it later.

Now, she somehow had to tell her teammates that Sectionals were going to be her last performance with them.

The thought pierced her heart after all.


	4. Chapter 4

_It took me a little longer to upload the next chapter, and I'm afraid it will stay the same for the next couple of weeks. School has started again, and although I love writing, I don't find that much time anymore. Luckily, I still have some chapters on my laptop ... but I pressure myself to first finish another one before I can upload the next, just making sure I don't bail on this fanfic in the middle :)_

_Thank you so much for the reviews! I can't believe how great you are (partly) in predicting my intensions ;)_

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><p>Beth hadn't told them yet.<p>

Most of her teammates were highly protective about glee club, she could only imagine what would happen if she told them she was moving. Voluntarily. She'd loved performing, she'd loved belonging, but she didn't exactly love Vocal Adrenaline.

Sometimes those guys were a little over the top when it came to their pride and everything. And it would definitely hurt their pride to know that one of their best singers would run off to the competition.

"No eggs, please" she whispered, thinking of a tradition of intimidating enemies. She would turn into one for most of them soon.

"What?" Jackie asked irritated and turned around.

They were waiting behind the curtains to get out, doing the closing number.

The other clubs had been decent, but no more than that. Vocal Adrenaline could beat them without even trying.

"Just nervous" she answered under her breath pressing her eyelids together for the last seconds out of the spotlight.

Not nervous at all. She probably couldn't care less.

After the weekend she would be out anyways. Since she realized that, there was no reason to pretend anymore. She would leave what became her safe harbor as well as her prison.

Beth could let loose now, there was no point convincing herself it was actually fun to be with Vocal Adrenaline.

Yes, the competition still was a little fun. But they had overdone the songs so much that it wasn't even a little bit exciting.

Too bad she'd never realized before, how senseless VA actually was.

Beth performed without any emotion. There was no need to. Her voice and her steps blurred into a forced dream sequence on stage. Not even the slight grin from Aaron was cheering her up.

She´d fallen.

When they stood there waiting for the results to be announced, though, she saw her mom sitting right in the third row, smiling at her. She felt a little better then.

"And this years Sectional Champion is … Vocal Adrenaline!"

The enthusiastic voice didn´t announce anything new, but the winning glee club still cried out in joy.

Beth forced a happy mask on her face as she hugged the girls and boys around her. She risked another glance to her mom.

Surprisingly, Shelby was only absently clapping, talking to a woman at her right side who had the exact same hair as her.

She wondered who it was. Her mom wasn´t the kind of person to make random friends in show choir audiences, so the woman must be an acquaintance.

Mr. St. James made the round, shaking everyone´s hand politely, sometimes adding a few words.

"Beth", he started when he reached her, "What were you doing? You were flickering like an old light bulb, not shining like a star!"

His tone was a mixture of anger, resignation and disappointment. "I take it you don't want another solo spot for Regionals then", he added.

Beth didn't plan to tell in that fixed moment, but the words slipped out too easily.

"I don't care, I'm moving."

"What?" It seemed like the entire world stood still to that announcement, even though only Abby and Kyle overheard it next to Mr. St. James, with Kyle being polite enough to just walk off, pretending he didn't notice anything.

"Why hasn't Shelby told me?", the director asked in disbelief, his hand reaching up to pull his hair.

She just looked to the ground, ignoring Abby's wild stare, hoping he would disappear.

He didn't.

"So, where are you moving to?" She noticed the lurking sound of his voice, but she' never imagined he would react that way.

"Lima", she'd answered before thinking and he exploded.

"You're going to those _NEW DIRECTIONS_?" He dragged her off the stage, as single people left in the audience started to glare at them.

"You're afraid we will loose, huh? Running away, aren't you? Don't even think of coming back, you will not be welcomed here again! Join those Lima Losers if that makes you happy!"

St. James inhaled three times to calm down, finding that soft voice again he used for the most cruel comments.

"Good luck with that. Of course that's in your genes. I'm sure they'll appreciate you talent. Just don't get too big-headed, will you? I'll go and find your mom, if she's aware what she's doing to her precious little girl."

With an ice-cold glare he turned around and walked in the audience.

_What was that with the genes?_

Beth had a very bad feeling about this. After a few moments of recovery she went after him as he quickly made his way up the rows to the doors.

Her knees were shaky, making it hard to keep up with his pace.

Was he going to argue with Shelby? Convince her of staying, so she could still sing and dance for Vocal Adrenaline? Try to talk her out of moving? And was it just because of this stupid VA pride that made him furious about loosing a member, or was it something more personal?

However, she was there soon enough to see him stop puzzled as he spotted the woman with her mom.

Beth silently slipped to her mom's side and took her hand, as the women noticed the two Vocal Adrenaline members approaching.

"Ra … Rachel", St. James murmured, his face turning white instantly.

"Nice to see you, Jesse", the stranger, Rachel, replied. Though her voice was solid, she also seemed to be a little upset about the encounter.

Geez, she looked similar to Shelby. Maybe she wasn't an acquaintance after all, but a distinct family member, a cousin or a niece. Besides Shelby and her demented mother Beth didn't know her adoptive relatives.

"Congratulations, Jesse", Shelby said calmly, successfully disturbing the awkward silence between the two. "I'm taking my daughter home tonight, don't wait for her. Now would you excuse us?"

"Sure", the man stuttered, staying behind as they moved to the exits. Beth had never seen her mean choir director weak like that.

Weird.

She had no time to think about it when Shelby finally hugged her tightly and congratulated her as well. Rachel observed them the entire time, smiling.

Beth felt creeped out, only a little.

"Does she know about me?", Rachel asked Shelby before she could get started on the transmission of the moving-message.

"No", the older woman answered, immediately following with an introduction.

"Honey, this is Rachel. She's an old friend of mine, she lives in New York."

For a few moments Shelby seemed unsure if she should keep telling, but then decided for it.

"You remember about the spy story I told you? She was the New Direction lead singer Jesse was dating for me."

Beth found herself nodding awkwardly. That woman's and Mr. St. James' strange behavior made perfect sense now.

It was still a strange turn of events that her mom was friends with her former competition's lead, though.

"And Rachel, this is my daughter Beth."

Their interaction gave her the feeling that they'd already talked about her and she wasn't that unfamiliar to Rachel.

"Not hard to make out", Rachel smiled and offered her a hand.

"Nice to meet you", Beth said politely and shook it.

_Did Shelby already show her pictures?_

"You are a very talented performer, Beth", she complimented in return. "There are not many people who get their lines in Vocal Adrenaline's performances."

The two women exchanged an amused look, leaving Beth rather bewildered. They really acted like two old friends – but Shelby hadn't even mentioned Rachel ever before, let alone she'd met her.

And in her early years of life, the ones she couldn't remember, Rachel could've been only a college sophomore, so not much time for history there.

Again, weird.

The remaining way to the cars they were silent.

"Good to see you, Rachel", Shelby said before she unlocked the doors.

Rachel nodded. "Good to see you, too. And it was great to meet Beth. Take care."

She waved them goodbye when they pulled out the parking spot.

"What was she doing there?" Beth asked curiously.

Shelby concentrated on the street, her hands firm around the steering wheel.

"She's taking a one year break from her career on Broadway to stay with her family and friends in Lima, and she decided to help out her former glee club a little bit with scooping out the competition" she explained.

"Wait, she's on Broadway? Could it be possible that … that she … is Rachel _Berry_?"

"Yeah, that's her last name", Shelby said content, looking straight ahead but seeming rather satisfied to tell.

"And you're saying that so calmly?" Beth almost freaked out. She'd just met a Broadway legend without even noticing it – and she happened to be friends with her _mom_!

"That's just a lot to process…"

That it was indeed. She leaned back and tried to imagine how her mom was on the phone with Rachel Berry, or skyping, talking about her daughter. Hey, or she'd been her babysitter once?

"_Of course that's in your genes."_

"… _what she's doing to her precious little girl."_

"_Not hard to make out."_

Beth didn't intentionally think about those remarks, but suddenly she remembered the strange tone of St. James' voice, the intuitive expressions on both his and Rachel's faces.

It was in her genes to go to McKinley, Jesse St. James had said.

Rachel Berry had gone there. Rachel Berry knew her mom quite well. Rachel Berry knew _her_ quite well. She'd dated Jesse St. James and broken up with him in the year of Beth's birth and adoption.

Oh god.

A terrible thought dawned to her.

As soon as they stopped in their house's driveway, Beth jumped out and almost fled to her room, brushing off the confused face of her mom.

She needed time to think. And something to write on.

In the back of her closet she found a piece of cardboard which she drew out and placed on the desk.

Then she took a marker and wrote "_Beth Corcoran_" right in the middle. She stopped, meditatively tracing the lines of her name.

_Born June__ 8, 2010, adopted._

She drew a line bottom-up labeled "_adoptive mother_" and wrote "_Shelby Corcoran_" on the top.

_Former VA director and __torturer, now proud mom and house owner._

Beth squared her shoulders and inhaled heavily.

"_Jesse St. James_" she wrote first, on the right, because it was easier.

_Current VA director, senior member in 20__09/10._

A faint grin appeared on her face as she added: _College dropout._

She connected him with an arrow to his mother.

_Visits sometimes – regular contact._

Then another arrow to herself.

_Anti-__favorite. Gets mad on without reason._

So far, there was nothing new to her. She was used to the way Mr. St. James veered with her, like he held a big personal grudge towards her.

Now she added the newest name. _Rachel Berry_.

_Former ND lead, graduated in 2010/11/12/13?_

2013 was very unlikely, though. She couldn't imagine a freshman being both lead at glee club and dating another school's senior.

For a second she thought about putting down something Broadway related, but she didn't care about that any longer, and it didn't add anything to the picture she tried to paint here.

By the time she inserted the double arrow between St. James and Rachel ("_dating and break-up in 2010_"), her lips were dry.

The "_old friends_" on the Shelby-Rachel arrow she put in quotations.

_Knows her, looks like someone __else she knows? _Rachel-Beth.

She circled every name in another color, just to delay uttering what she darkly suspected.

First of all, Rachel's appearance and behavior. Secondly, Mr. St. James over-the-top reaction to the McKinley announcement and his shock seeing Rachel.

Was it possible that Rachel Berry was her biological mother?

Beth hated herself for asking this kind of question. She'd said she wouldn't try to find out about her real parents, for crying out loud.

But she had always assumed that Shelby just adopted her as a random child she knew about because of some agency, that she didn't even know that much about her parents in the first place.

Never ever would she have expected other people around to be involved. And now that it seemed obvious, she couldn't help but wondering what kind of a story she was missing here.

Mr. St. James knew something for sure. He said that thing with Lima losers and the genes after all.

Maybe he was her father. Hurting every time when he saw his little girl, not knowing about him at all, visiting to see her, bullying her to at least get any emotions from her.

But then her genes would've pulled her to VA as much as to New Directions. And they didn't date that long, for what she got.

More likely, Rachel had gotten pregnant from some blonde, tall guy at McKinley, Beth looked like – and Stames had found out about it, breaking up with her and leaving a lot of unresolved feelings between them.

And he left, filled with rage about the girl that had turned his live miserable, making her life a living hell when he got the chance.

It was so evident.

Beth scowled on the little mind-map again, before she snatched it as quickly as possible and went to the opposite wall of her room to stuff it underneath some already packed-up clothes, the emotions boiling up in her once again.

She'd never felt so terribly depressed and helpless before. The evidence was out of the picture, she didn't have to look at it anymore.

There was no hint what she was supposed to do now. No personal advisor to tell her that she should just get upstairs and confront Shelby.

It was tearing her apart. On the one hand, she desperately wanted to know if this all was true. On the other hand, she felt so ashamed about her treacherous thoughts and wanted to forget everything.

Maybe she made up the whole thing in her mind. Mr. St. James was mean to everybody. He probably had no clue about her parents and just suggested that they were the only reason for her to feel fine with transferring. He had a history with Lima after all.

And about Rachel … she could've meant it as in "I see what a great family you are".

By the time Shelby called her up for dinner, Beth had re-convinced herself that there was no underline plot about her adoption she was about to discover.

She just had a vivid imagination.

But somewhere deep inside she could feel that there _was_ a story to be told.

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><p><em><strong>AN:** Writing again on the end of the chapter, didn't want to give too many spoilers ;)_

_Rachel's appearence might come across a little artificial, but I simply had to give the first hints for Shelby's and Beth's backstory. And for Beth'S theory ... I made it up while writing, and after I was finished I was certainly shocked when I realized that she's not the daughter of Rachel. Beth's thoughts are really persuasive._


	5. Chapter 5

_Again, thank you so much for your reviews! I have a lot of work to do these days, but they encourage me to go on writing anyways ... so I can get to the good stuff. This chapter is a little shorter, kind of a filler episode and introduces another POV than Beth's for the first time. More of those to follow as the story gets more complex._

_Have a good day :)_

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><p>Shelby told the school she was sick the next day.<p>

And Beth actually felt sick. After the victory party apparently had ended, she got at least twenty texts from the other VA members what the hell she was thinking for leaving them and letting them find out about it in such an inappropriate way.

Abby had told them, obviously. Or more of them had overheard her conversation with their director.

Jackie was the first one, texting just after dinner.

_**Wait, is it true that you're leaving?- J**_

**Yeah, we're moving in with my mom's boyfriend**

_**Soon?**_

**The**** weekend.**

The texts stopped for a few minutes at that point, and Beth knew exactly what was going on. She could picture how Jackie took the message, chatting it up with the others immediately. They were probably angry.

_**Isn't that a little rushed? I mean, you would've told us … right?**_

"Here it comes", Beth murmured on that. The accusation behind the message was tangible.

**She just told me this Sunday, after she chased you guys out. Didn't want to ruin the competition.**

Why did she even bother apologizing?

_**You can talk her out. I'm sure you could also move in with Aaron or me to stay here**_.

What a kind offer. Surely, she only did this because she would miss Beth so much.

**I can still come over at weekends.**

_**Of course, but what about VA? We really need your voice and you **__**dancing skills!**_

**I'm sure you will be fine with getting my solos instead ;)**

_**Yeah. I guess.**_

And then all the others followed with "What the hell!", "How can you do this?", "You know that we'll find you" and other messages of disbelief and half-serious threats.

The only one to actually call was Aaron in the night.

"Hey" Beth said as she picked the phone up.

"Why haven't you told me?" he asked immediately. She felt a lump in her throat at his suppressed anger.

"I'm sorry, Aaron, I just couldn't do it … My mom was so happy, and I didn't want to regret moving with her because of your guys' reaction. You know, she has done so much for me, and I really wanted to feel happy about something that makes her happy and …"

"It's okay, Beth, I got this. I just thought we would be close enough to share something like this."

"Are you breaking up with me?" she asked and bit her tongue once the words had come out. She didn't want to know, but she was afraid he would do an entire awkward trust-talk darting around the subject, so she got ahead of it.

"Why, should I?"

"No! I didn't mean it that way, no! I was just afraid!" she answered rushed.

"Beth, I still love you. I hope you know that" Aaron replied more quietly after her nervous outburst. He didn't seem that angry after all anymore.

"I do" she said quietly.

"It was just not the best thing to hear about it from Abby."

So it had been Abby to tell them.

"I'm sorry, Aaron. I should've trusted you" she reassured him.

Aaron laughed.

"Don't think that's my only problem!" His voice turned sadder. "I seriously don't want you to leave me."

Beth had to close her eyes in order of stopping the tears that wanted to run down her cheeks desperately. She didn't want to leave _him_ as well.

"You can always come over, it's just two hours. And I'll come and visit you."

"But you know there will not be much time for that from my side" he said softly.

"Yeah, I guess. We're gonna make it work, though." She was determined.

"Hm" was the only thing he replied, and it stood for all the unspoken things between them over more than two years of dating.

"I don't know if you wanna come to school the last two days" he finally continued. "Jackie is mad, Abby is furious and Nora doesn't stop crying and hugging every blonde she sees. And for the others, they don't seem to be very happy either."

Beth nodded, although he couldn't see her. She was sure of that.

"Well, I don't really need to go anyways. VA practice isn't an obligation anymore, and this is the second week of the new semester, so I don't get the credit anyways."

"I have to reason things out for myself, too. I will miss you. I'll just come over on Saturday to say goodbye to you, ok?"

"Yeah" she smiled and added: "I love you."

"Love you, too."

They hung up simultaneously.

The conversation made her feel funny. It was warm and cozy and sad and terrible at the same time. The thing's Aaron had said made her happy, because he wasn't mad at her anymore now, just proving that they belonged.

But she also felt so bad now for leaving this wonderfully sweet boy.

So Shelby told Carmel she was sick.

Beth laid on the couch in her pajamas, ate ice cream and watched old chick flicks the entirety of the two days left before moving.

Shelby had already quit her old job, so she was there the whole day, packing up the last things and comforting Beth over the sad reaction of her so-called friends and leaving her boyfriend. They also talked a lot about the life they were going to live from Sunday on.

Beth couldn't help but feeling anxious about starting at a new school. It had been hard to switch over to senior high, too, but back then she'd at least known the other freshmen and the entire grade started off the same.

Now she would be transferring right in the middle of junior year – even though she'd just make it for the new semester at McKinley – and she had no glee club reputation to get her through this. Just herself.

"Don't worry, honey", Shelby repeated over and over again. "You're a wonderful young lady, and if the kids in Lima don't take a liking in you at first sight, then I really don't know. Besides, Taylor has friends, you know. Friends with kids. He would be more than happy to introduce them to you."

Beth figured. Taylor was a nice guy, even though she hadn't seen him as often as she would have liked to before moving to his house.

Her mom shot her a confident smile and she was certain that this was going to be OK.

* * *

><p>Shelby Corcoran watched her daughter in the driveway with a couple of her Vocal Adrenaline friends who'd come over to say goodbye, in the middle of piles of packing cases.<p>

One of the girls – Nora – was sobbing like she was on a funeral, the others just hugged Beth lightly and exchanged a few kind words.

Of course, there was no deep friendship going on there. She could remember well enough from her time as a director – as soon as the kids got out of the show choir issue, they didn't know anymore what to do with each other anymore. You were either in or out. They were going to speak to each other a couple of time, and then they would drift apart and not be sorry about it.

It was a good thing that Beth would be with people other than that.

Her relationship with Aaron could be longer lasting; they cared a great deal about each other. But only time could tell if there weren't too many changes for them do deal with.

She would never say that to Beth. Her daughter was convinced that they would be forever, nothing getting in their way. But they were teenagers, and teenagers changed their minds.

Not that Shelby was worried about that.

Something that concerned her a lot more was the fact of where exactly they were moving to.

Lima was familiar, in the most unusual way for people.

She'd almost scrolled over Taylor on this singles homepage because it said `Lima, OH´ next to his name. She'd been hesitant to meet him the first time. She'd had a lump in her throat visiting his place.

But she happily said yes to moving in with him after a few month, because she realized, that maybe the past wanted to come back.

The moment she had filled out the adoption papers and held Beth in her arms, she'd left this past behind.

She decided to start all over. Just concentrate on her happy family life.

Of course she ended up talking and writing with her biological daughter sometimes, and she couldn't help the fact that Jesse came back to Carmel knowing about the whole matter. But she ignored all the other people who played a part in Beth's pre-birth history. Those were mainly the old New Direction members. That was just so much easier than explaining everything, or trying to catch up with them sometimes while having a good excuse for Beth.

So it was a strange feeling to return Beth to her roots after sixteen and a half years, that she could run into people who once cared about her without even noticing.

She had already seen the first familiar name, the signature on the acceptance letter from McKinley she had gotten after sending in Beth's application papers and academic records.

Deputy headmaster and an interesting last name, but still recognizable. So they finally had gotten their guts together.

Maybe Beth would meet this particular person on her first day already, if the principal wasn't back then.

But everyone had agreed to her plan of not telling Beth everything, and even if they met and recognized her, it was still up to Shelby to break it.

Jesse had called her the night after the competition. Of course he had. She thought it had something to do with Rachel, though.

"I'm sorry, Shelby, but I think I slipped something …" She had been furious at first, but as he slowly recreated the words he'd said, she sighed in relief. It wasn't that bad. She simply knew that Beth would talk to her if she suspected to be from McKinley.

She knew that she had to tell Beth about her past someday. Not only about her parents, but also about Rachel, and her special connection with the New Directions.

The first step was taken. They moved to Lima, as a result of random events.

That place had a force of attraction to it they couldn't resist. And again, only time could tell how everything would turn out.

How would those people react when they found out about Beth living in Lima? Would they even still care about her?

Of course. She knew it.

"They're calling, Beth" whispered Shelby soundless through the window to her daughter, who cried in Aarons arms.

"They're calling and you don't even notice."


	6. Chapter 6

_So, it took me quite an effort to write this week, for I have some important finals coming up and had theater performances as well ... _

_**Me on future!Shipping:** As I'm going to introduce the first serious ship of old characters in this chapter, I want to clear my intentions there._

_There are three different scenarios for me how the ND's future is going to look like - headcanon, reality and this fic._

_In my headcanon, everything is as great as possible, pretty much all of the kids make it big, they all get married to each other, all my favorite ships are happening, and all of them stay the closest friends for their entire lifetime. Pleasing only to fellow shippers._

_In reality, I think, as sad as it is, most of them would end up stuck somewhere in Ohio with partners and friends that were never introduced in the show and only in some cases still in contact, cause that's how life works: You have a great time, but it fades from memory over the years. Not that interesting in a fanfiction to read about a bunch of OCs._

_For this fic, it's going to be a mixture: Some ships happen that I like, because it's realistic, some don't even if it breaks my shipper heart. A third aspect comes with that: functuality. I've made some sacrifices for the sake of this story, just so we have most of the old characters hang around._

_So I put this as a first warning, even though I haven't written a lot of what I'm planning to yet: This story is not about ships. I don't want you to get disappointed if your favorite ships don't happen. Ships will appear, but they will not be the focus, so if you don't like some of them, please stick around anyways ..._

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><p>"Wow. Wow! "<p>

Antoinette barked excitedly and raced up and down the stairs.

"Honey, you said that about fourteen times already!" Shelby laughed, accompanied by Taylor who had his arm around her waist.

His loud and warm laughter made him a Santa Clause look-alike even more, minus the fat and the white hair color. He was freakishly big, but not intimidating at all. In fact, he was the nicest, kindest and most lovable person Beth could possibly think of. It made her happy to see how much life Shelby was with him.

She knew that he had a big house before. But she didn't expect to have an entire _floor_ all by herself.

Taylor had been married about six years ago, but his wife had been an abusive and manipulative bitch and had run away to Las Vegas - with their two children - , which left him alone in the big house. There was no need to sell it for financial purposes and it was close to the clinic he worked at, so he kept it.

Now, Beth could choose out of two fully-furnished guest rooms, had an own small office, a living room with flat-screen TV and a giant bathroom. Plus a backdoor and walk-in closet.

It was like her own apartment. She only had to get out of it for food.

She had a hard time believing it was real. After all, she could sneak out and in of the house at anytime now. But she didn't ask Shelby, for she was afraid that she would recognize it then and hide the backdoor keys.

"Thank you so much!" she repeated continuously while walking open-mouthed through her new residence.

And Taylor always replied: "Nothing to thank for, kiddo, I didn't use it anyways" with this wide smile that made him so trustworthy.

It was a dream coming true.

"So, are you two hungry yet? I've prepared some sandwiches for lunch. You can bring your stuff in afterwards."

Everything was so new and exciting. Beth had her head in the clouds the entire day, freaking out about every new discovery she made.

The ice cube disposer. She always wanted one of those.

The popcorn machine.

The big collection of DVDs and CDs.

The snow-covered flowerbeds in the backyard.

The strawberry plants.

The empty swimming pool.

It was already too good to be true to have everything for a movie night at home in winter, but just imagining what it would be like in spring and summer to lay outside and watch the flowers, to swim in the pool … that was paradise, Beth was sure of it.

She jumped around like a five-year-old, barely finding the patience to fetch her stuff out of the car and unpack it in her new room.

It was impossible for her to sleep at night. The clock lied, she was convinced.

She came upstairs to join Shelby and Taylor at half past eleven, still wide awake and as fresh as twelve hours before.

Antoinette laid in the corner and blinked in a very annoyed way.

"Shouldn't you get some sleep?" her mom asked in surprise. "McKinley starts school at 8:20, and you have an appointment with the principal before. And it's my first day, too, at the travel agency, so you have to get up drive there by yourself. Taylor leaves at six-thirty, so he can't watch out for you getting up in time either…"

"Oh, that's not going to be a problem! I surely will get up in time, I'll just set the alarm on my phone … "

"You _still_ should get downstairs and try to sleep, honey", her mom said softly.

"Yeah, alright. I'll try, if you say so." Beth didn't feel like sleeping at all. More like running. She should try out the backdoor and go for a moonlight run.

"I love you, sweetie" Shelby said.

"Love you, too, mom" she replied and decided against a late night run. It wasn't very sensible. "Good night, Taylor."

"Sweet dreams, kiddo."

_Of course _Beth couldn't fall asleep. She tossed and turned for what felt like the entire night, torn between the positive excitement over her new environment and the nervousness about her new school. At some point she wanted to jump up and check if it wasn't just a dream, at the next she wanted to hide under the covers and never come back to the light of day again.

Several times she got up to open the window and let in some fresh air, just to close it again when it got too cold.

At the time she actually was tired and seriously tried to sleep, it was even more impossible.

As soon as she closed her eyes, an enormous tsunami of thoughts took over her brain and distracted her.

She couldn't help but imagining wandering down the hallways the first time in different varieties, some of them too good to be true, some of them so terrible she'd rather become homeless than going to this school.

Would the other students be nice? Were the classes hard? What should she wear?

And though her mind kept racing, somewhere along the way she managed it to pass out eventually.

As full of energy she had been the last night, she didn't hear the alarm. She woke up from the sunbeams and it took her a while to figure everything out.

At first she was terrified to find herself in a strange room she'd never been in before, and the terror accompanied her to the hallway, when she found herself totally lonely in this foreign house.

It took her two tries to find the bathroom. Then, after she'd splashed some water in her face, she finally remembered everything.

Beth almost fainted when she realized that she'd probably overslept, judging by the light of day that had woken her up.

She hurried back to her room and checked the time on her phone. 7:56.

Damn it. At least, she could make it to first period. It was only a ten minute drive.

After showering as quickly as possible, she got the first jeans and sweater available and practically jumped in.

Then she hastily packed some pens and notebooks, before she raced upstairs where a water bottle and her lunch money were resting on the kitchen table, with a good-luck-note from her mom.

By the time she got in her green Hyundai, it was 8:09.

In a hurry, she pulled out the driveway and ended up driving in the wrong direction the first crossway already. They had tried out the way to school the other day, and she had her GPS switched on, but seriously, you wouldn't think that the street through those fields would lead anywhere.

At 8:26 she arrived at McKinley, shaky from anxiety and shame of being late her very first day.

Some freshman watched her through the windows when she speeded to the main entrance, and she walked even faster to avoid their stares.

She wasn't insecure, by no means, but she didn't need any wry faces to make her feel guiltier than she already did.

It was almost a good feeling when she finally stepped inside the school, immediately spotting the signpost for the principal's office.

Beth grabbed her bag tightly as she slowly walked up to the half-open glass door. The assistant's desk was empty, so she just passed it.

"Principal's office – Jordan Cameron", said the sign on the door after.

Inside she saw a neatly dressed woman in a long brown skirt sitting at the desk going through some documents.

She didn't hear how Beth came in.

"Principal Cameron?" she asked, clearing her throat.

The woman looked up to her with big eyes in shock for a brief moment, before she seemed to realize that Beth wasn't some serial killer, and started smiling.

"I'm sorry, but Mr. Cameron is out sick the second week in a row now. The horse flu", she explained and got up. "I'm his substitute, Emma Shuester. What can I do for you?"

Mrs. Shuester got some hand sanitizer before she offered her right to Beth. Her voice was really high-pitched.

"I'm the new student, sorry I'm late", she replied and exhaled the breath she had been holding.

"Oh, I remember!" Mrs. Shuester said and turned to a file behind her. "Beth Corcoran, am I right? Yes, here are the documents. You transferred from Carmel, I see."

With the papers in her hand she returned to the desk and sat down, pointing to the chair on the opposite.

"Take a seat." She opened up a drawer and took out more sheets of paper and a pen, not looking into her eyes at all.

"So, we have five periods here, each seventy minutes long. You've got six minutes to go to your locker and change classrooms, the bell always reminds you after four minutes to get going. Lunch is 12:02 to 12:40, after third period. You can pay your lunch money in advance and use your student ID in the food line or you pay it directly. The school day is over seven after three, but you'll have homeroom meetings Tuesdays and Fridays afternoon, the other days in the morning before first period. Got it so far?"

Beth nodded.

"Good. Then let's see what classes you're going to take. After looking at your record, I figured you still have to take gym class, chemistry and literature. So besides that, you are free to choose. Is there anything specific you are interested in? I've seen you've taken French, so maybe you want to continue that? Otherwise, here's the catalog."

She handed Beth a folder where all classes of McKinley were listed.

Beth took it and carefully examined the pages. She skipped over the business and technology department without second thoughts and found herself looking on "Theater". Why not?

"I'm going with French and Theater class", she said, before she could doubt her decision. It would've been wiser to choose something academic, or maybe she should've gone with choir. But it was about time to try something new, so why not theater – it was a performing art, after all.

"Good. Theater is a lot of fun" Mrs. Shuester said and turned to her computer to enter the information. Up to the sound of the printer they stayed silent.

The substitute principal took the printed schedule and a map, spreading them out in front of Beth.

"That's your student ID, locker number and combination" she said circling a few numbers in the corner of the schedule. "It's in this hallway here."

"So your first period is gym with Mr. Lathe. That's here, in case you didn't already see it."

She traced the way from her office to the gym with her pen on the map. "But since you're late I'll bring you there today" she added.

"Thank you" Beth threw in quickly.

"No problem. So, then we have chemistry, Mr. Weide, that's here, followed by French with Miss Delaware." She marked every classroom with clean handwriting.

"Lunch is here. We have the day's food choice on a whiteboard at the entrance of the cafeteria every day, in case you want to check beforehand."

It looked like Beth was going to handle it. She just had to make sure she got everywhere in time.

"After lunch you have literature with Mrs. Steve in the English hallway. Theater class is in the next classroom."

Mrs. Shuester handed the marked map and the schedule over to Beth, examining her closely, like she forgot her lines.

Beth slid around on her chair uncomfortably under her look. Was something wrong with her? She knew her sweater was hideous, but that was a teacher, for god's sake.

Finally, the substitute principal broke the tension.

"Beth" she said warmly, stressing her name to the limits, "I really want to lay it on your heart – try to fit in. You'll do best if you don't stick out too much here."

Okay, it must've been the sweater. She wished she had taken the extra minute to find something more flattering.

"So, for the after-school-activities, I have another list." Speaking of it, she handed another sheet of paper over to Beth.

"There are different clubs right after school. Chess club, Speech, writer's club, science club, German club, glee club, gardening club … You can double some of them if you like. For example, speech is only Monday and Wednesday, chess is Thursday and Friday. But you can read trough it. You'll find the names and dates of the designated contact person as well."

She breath was slightly heavy, as she'd talked herself more and more into it.

"So, okay. School sports now." The woman spread her fingers in the attempt to calm herself down again.

"Of course you have to talk to the coaches first if you can join in the middle of winter season. Or you wait for the spring sports, like track or softball. Anyways, they've got practices everyday, and even though some of them usually come in the mornings and others only after half past four in the noon, you must always be prepared for additional practices, so you shouldn't do two of those. It's possible to do a sport and a club if you want to, many of the students do so."

She grinned at Beth in such a helpless way that the girl couldn't help but wonder if she hid a dark secret, like people dying on the swim team or something like that.

The phone rang, disrupting the strange conversation this appointment had become. Mrs. Shuester pushed her chair to the side to get it, muttering a short "Excuse me please" to Beth.

"McKinley High school, Principal's office. Emma Shuester speaking here."

She turned to the Computer again, dialing with one hand while she nodded to whatever came out of the speakers.

"Got it, I'll look for a substitute. Yes, I will make an announcement. Good. Get well soon!"

As she hung up, she also got up from the chair.

"Those days are crazy. That was our health teacher, she's down with the horse flu now, too. If it continues this way, we'll have to shut the school down because we're running out of staff."

She seemed to be talking more to herself than to Beth, as she sorted some folders in.

"So, let's go" she finally said and sharply walked out of the office, gesturing to Beth to follow her through the empty hallways to the gym.

As they walked through the girl's locker room, Mrs. Shuester obviously tried to be extremely careful not to step on anything or touch the stained tiles. Small sounds of disgust came from her every other second.

_Neat-freak and overly correct_, Beth decided. But she was nice.

"So, here we are", Mrs. Shuester finally said and opened up the door to the gym, touching it as shortly as possible.

"Good morning, Evan. I'm sorry to disturb you. That's Beth Corcoran, a transfer student" she introduced the girl to the gym teacher who'd looked up in surprise as the door had opened.

He was tall and bony, looking like he had been working out and running for decades by now. In front of him sat the students, casually clothed like Beth. Some of them had been taking notes on what Mr. Lathe had said.

Beth saw that two of the girls were wearing a red and white cheerleader uniform with the school's name printed on it in big letters and three of the guys wore letterman jackets in the same colors.

School pride. Back at Carmel, Vocal Adrenaline were the only group to be proud, the sports teams weren't even decent.

Now, all the students were looking up curiously.

Mr. Lathe smiled and shook hands with her. "Great to have you here, Beth. Now, why don't you sit down as well, we still have a lot to go through for gym this semester."

She smiled awkwardly to the girl at the edge of the bunch, but sat down eventually.

"Good then" Mrs. Shuester said and nodded to Mr. Lathe. "You kids take care. Beth – good luck."

And there this look was again. The others probably didn't notice because the gym teacher started talking about pool days, but the substitute principal stood there and stared a second too long to be polite.

"So, where do you come from?" the girl next to Beth whispered then, and she turned to her, relieved that someone talked to her.

Mrs. Shuester behaved strangely. But that was no reason to not try to make friends.


	7. Chapter 7

_OK, I notice that my updates take longer and longer ... and I'm very sorry to tell you that it's not going to change soon, since I'm off to Dublin for the weekend, and the friday after I will be traveling the East Coast of the amazing United States for three weeks, starting with a weekend in New York._

_I hope you can deal with waiting, I try to write on paper during the vacation, so it doesn't take much time after I'm back ..._

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><p>The girl's name was Linaya, and she had an interesting taste in clothing. It was definitely colorful. It began with her three strands of hair that were colored in green, pink and gold, continuing with a black and white striped t-shirt under a bright red cardigan. Lastly, she wore a short and puffy green skirt over dark orange tights, with sparkly chucks in gold and silver.<p>

A total overkill for the eyes.

But she tried to talk to Beth and was actually pretty nice, so she went with it and tried not to examine her too closely, for the others only occasionally looked over to her.

She winced when Beth told her that she was from Carmel, but she caught herself rather quickly and filled the newbie up with what she had missed in the first minutes of gym class.

"I don't like gym very much. Running, swimming, all those stupid fitness tests … why don't they let us choose?" she added silently.

"I don't know" Beth replied only because she felt like she needed, "We didn't have to take gym at Carmel."

Linaya looked at her in disbelief. "Oh my gosh, I'm like soooo jealous!"

It was just then that Mr. Lathe finished up talking about what he expected from this class.

"How many of you guys did actually bring _outside _gym clothes?"

Only a few hands rose. Neither Linaya, nor the cheerleaders or letterman jacket guys were amongst them.

Mr. Lathe sighed. "I suspected that. But I would really appreciate if you could always have the right clothes to be both outdoor and indoor, okay? I'm going to tell you about pool dates early enough."

He clapped his hands as the students got up to retreat to their respective locker rooms for changing, searching for Beth.

"I suppose you don't have gym clothes with you today?" he asked her.

Beth shook her head.

"Well, I can borrow you some of the shirts and sweatpants of the track team for today. From tomorrow, you'll just bring you own stuff. Just follow me, please."

Linaya, who had taken her time in getting up just so she could listen to what Mr. Lathe had said to Beth, abruptly turned around heading to the locker room, while Beth followed the gym teacher in the storage room.

She went back to the locker room. In front of it, the two cheerleaders were already done, not changed out of their uniform, snickering with a tall and good-looking guy who was also changed already.

They only gave Beth one look, apparently deciding that she wasn't worth looking at longer.

There were three other girls, not very noteworthy, changing in the same corner as Linaya did.

"What are your names?" Beth tried bonding. Not that those girls were extremely interesting, they didn't speak a lot and seemed like the kind of students who just looked forward to nights in front of the TV flailing over Robert Pattinson.

"Laura."

"Breanna."

"Carlie."

They barely looked into her eyes as they mumbled their names.

Beth didn't really mind, since she'd already met Linaya who seemed like a person to be friends with, and there were four other classes left to meet other people. To say nothing of clubs or sports. Though she didn't know yet if she was going to join any of them.

Maybe she should try out for the New Directions, she thought for a short moment while getting dressed. Linaya sat on the bench, waiting for her, and told her about the horrible t-shirt she was forced to wear, since her favorite one was still drying at home.

Actually, it was a very _normal_ t-shirt, nothing to be ashamed of.

Or perhaps she should just go for track in the spring. Her athletic condition surely was good enough.

They walked out the locker room to find a very unmotivated bunch of students, except for some skinny guys who seemed like they were passionate cross country runners.

Even the cheerleaders and the letterman jacket guys, who Beth had expected to be at least a little happy about a subject that must come so easy to them, apparently only wanted to get out.

"So kids, I know that you're not too eager to get your day started with a little workout, but there's nothing better to your brain!" Mr. Lathe tried to cheer them up with a broad smile on his face that told that he really meant it.

"But I guess, we'll take it easy for today. You run three laps in the gym – no skipping corners! – and then we get our fitness tests started, so we can see what we have to work on this semester."

So they ran.

As Beth had suspected, the skinny guys were done in what felt like only a heartbeat, while the other sport people didn't seem to try too hard. When the cheerleaders finished, they weren't even out of breath.

The other students hit different points of exhaustion, most of them including Linaya had to walk after the first lap, others didn't run very fast from the beginning.

Beth didn't have any problems with running. In fact, she was one of the first students to finish, and it wasn't even that strenuous.

Mr. Lathe nodded to her, smiling.

When you did up to six hours of dance rehearsal every day, a short run was a relief.

The gym teacher waited until everyone was done and had gotten some water, then he had them line up for the stretch test.

Everyone had to press their legs against a block of wood and lean as far forward as possible, trying to reach positive numbers on the board.

Most of the students didn't even get on the chart. When they bended, it looked like an ostrich hiding his head in the sand.

The cheerleaders were good, of course. They easily reached seven inches plus, and they didn't seem like trying again.

When it was Beth's turn, she wasn't too concerned. She'd never done something like that, but judging by what the others had done so far, she wouldn't embarrass herself at all.

So she simply sat down, watched by Mr. Lathe and some of the students but not caring about them, put her legs straight on the ground and bend her back forward, stretching her arms out.

"Jeez", someone mumbled, impressed.

She heard them whisper.

"That's a ten", Mr. Lathe finally said, and she pulled back again, feeling somehow happy that she'd gotten so far.

"Good job, Beth. You already got all the credits here."

As she stood up and brushed over the track pants, she felt the cheerleader's stares. When she looked up to them, one gave her a small nod, before Mr. Lathe made them do crunches.

After she'd gotten dressed, she walked to Mr. Lathe's office to return the gym clothes. Linaya excused herself, for she had a homework assignment to complete before the next class started.

As Beth walked out of the office, the two cheerleaders stood there, apparently waiting for her.

It was the first time she actually looked at them closer.

Both were, of course, in great bodily shape, and they also both had a head full of brown curls, but one girl was a little smaller and looked more exotic, like from the Carribean.

Also, the taller one had her nose up in the air a little higher. Their whole presence practically jumped other people with the I'm-better-than-you-attitude.

Beth tried not to judge them, as the cheerleaders actually approached her.

"Hi, I'm Melissa" the taller one said and smiled at her too brightly to be entirely true about it.

"That's Anita" she added and pointed to the other girl who just slightly nodded and grabbed her notebook more tightly.

"My name's Beth" Beth replied politely, although she was sure they'd heard her name already.

They probably hadn't bothered remembering it, though.

"So, you seemed very athletic back in there" Melissa said, turning her head back to the gym doors. "Did you do any sports at your old school?"

Beth thought about the best thing to answer.

"I'm a dancer" she settled on.

The cheerleaders nodded simultaneously, smiling.

"A good one, I assume. We were wondering if you were interested in joining the Cheerios."

"The Cheerios?" Beth asked confused.

"The cheerleading squad" Anita explained.

"We're always looking for new athletes. And we're good, you know. It would make your start at this school much easier if you chose to be with us."

So there she was, being asked to join the cheerleaders. Nothing she'd thought of before, for sure.

"Ehm, this comes a little unexpected" she helplessly replied. "I don't know …"

Melissa grinned at her again.

"You've got at least the rest of this day to figure it out. We don't have practice before tomorrow morning, at 7:15 If you're interested, you can just come in, I'm sure coach Sylvester will let you try out. You've got the right looks for a cheerleader."

"Yeah. Thanks. I'll think about it." She turned to walk away as she didn't really know how to react any other than awkward to the sudden approach and proposal of the two cheerleaders.

But they quickly came after her, one stepping to each side of her.

"What class do you have next?" Anita asked.

"Chemistry" Beth mumbled, a little shocked on how intense those girls were.

"Oh great!" Melissa exclaimed, whipping her hair, "We do, too. I'm not very excited for it, are you? I don't think there's a point to classes at all."

Intense indeed. The overconfident way they presented themselves reminded Beth a lot of Vocal Adrenaline.

So maybe it wasn't a good idea to try out after all. If it was a group of people who were better than the others, taking home all the awards and ruling the school, it was a lot like VA.02, and that was nothing she was looking for.

_Come on Beth, they are offering you a chance to be a part of this school. You can try it at least. There's always the chance to quit if it's too much._

Actually, joining the cheerleading squad never had been a valid option before, even if it hadn't been for the extensive VA rehearsals. The cheerleaders at Carmel were nothing but a bunch of highly girlish girls who hopped around and recited stupid cheers with smiles of plastic.

The cheerleaders here … she had heard of them. That said a lot, considering that she didn't actively search out other school's sport teams.

Well, worth a try.

Talking to Melissa and Anita wasn't the same as talking to Linaya. The conversation didn't flow as smoothly and seemed a little artificial to Beth, avoiding any kind of deeper topics and a lot of gossiping about average students.

But since Linaya didn't show up anymore, she stuck with the cheerleaders and tried to keep up with them, reckoning that it would turn less awkward if she just got to know them better.

And this way she got introduced to other cheerleaders real quick as well, making sure that she was sitting alone neither in class nor at lunch.

They always came in swarms, but she didn't mind. She was so used to being part of a group that it was good to be caught up in one of those.

By the time her English class was done, Beth felt like a part of the Cheerios already.

They walked out of Mrs. Steve's classroom together, but since she'd theater right next to it – a class most of her new cheerleading friends had rolled their eyes on – they just exchanged cheerful `See ya´s and she watched a bunch of ponytales bouncing down the hallway.

As she was alone for the first time after Melissa and Anita had started talking to her, she felt lonely again.

Sure, it had been nice not to wander around alone. But those girls had been rather superficial; nice, but she didn't feel they were extremely sincere.

Perhaps she just needed to get used to it.

When she had joined Vocal Adrenaline it had taken it's time, too, to get adapted to the team.

But it wasn't a bad start.

Walking up to her theater classroom, she found the door closed and the lights inside switched off. She discovered a sticky note on the height of her waist.

"Sorry to let you guys down today, but I have an important appointment. See you in class tomorrow."

The signature below it was unrecognizable.

"Damn, I was going through this hell of a day just for this class!" someone behind her swore.

Beth turned around and saw a quite tall girl with pretty green eyes, an eyebrow piercing and dark dreadlocks, looking rather wild. But her voice was high and soft.

"Is it supposed to be good?" Beth asked her interested.

"Hell yeah it is!" the girl shouted, "I'm alternating it with choir since freshman year. Gotta go to tell the others, if they don't know yet. See you tomorrow then, I guess."

She nodded, before she quickly turned and walked away, a wide green scarf waving behind her.

So the school day apparently was over for today.

Beth stood and waited in the middle of the hallway just for a couple of minutes, before the bell rang and the stream of students died down.

Then she quietly walked back to her locker, not knowing if she'd figured out what to do about this school yet.


	8. Chapter 8

_Okay, I shouldn't be posting this, since I only have one finished chapter left now to pressure me in writing more. _

_But take it as a goodbye-for-three-weeks chapter._

_And god, I start adding way too many OCs, going to be even more the next chapters... well, I hope you still like it :)_

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><p>The house was still empty when Beth returned, with the exception of Antoinette sleeping in the living room.<p>

Of course it was. Taylor had a fulltime job after all, and Shelby had said something about being done at three, so she would be home when her daughter got out of school regularly.

So she dropped her stuff in her room and sat down to watch some TV.

It was weird to have an entire afternoon of free time.

She had some homework to do, but she was so used to doing it late in the night that she couldn't push herself to do it right now.

How did other people stand this? It was only two, and she couldn't go to sleep before ten. So she had to fill _eight hours_ with something to do.

Well, supper would take an hour, probably, if she helped cooking. And maybe she could stretch talking to Shelby about her first day to one and a half hours.

Another hour for homework, taking it as slowly as possible. Half an hour going for a run with Antoinette maybe.

She counted it with the help of her fingers. Only half of the time covered.

And as great as the giant TV was, she didn't plan on spending four hours in front of it.

After she watched one hour of a poorly acted soap opera, still not sure what to do with the time, she heard keys move in the door.

Shelby yelped in surprise as her daughter raced up towards her and hugged her like they hadn't seen each other for ages.

"Is everything alright, sweetie?" she asked worried. "You're home early, did something happen at school?"

She frowned at Beth, whose mouth stood awkwardly open. The girl shook her head quickly.

"No, no! The last period was cancelled today. It's just that … well, I'm kind of bored now."

Shelby laughed at her guilty expression.

"I'm sure you'll find something to do soon enough. So, let me go cleaned up a little, then we can chat about our first days. Sounds like a plan to you?"

Beth nodded happily, already looking forward to the end of boredom.

She sat on the sofa, anxiously waiting for her mom to come out again.

"So, how was it? What classes do you have?" Shelby asked when she finally came out, the towel still wrapped around her hair.

"Well, I had to take gym class, chemistry and literature, but I chose theater and French as well."

"Your continuing French? Good girl", her mom grinned. "What made you pick theater though?"

Beth shrugged.

"I don't know. I just felt like it."

"Did you like it?"

"It was the cancelled class."

"So maybe you got lucky in picking a class that gets cancelled more often?" Shelby suggested with raised eyebrows.

"Mom! That's not the reason I picked it! I didn't even know that it was cancelled until right before class!" She felt how she blushed, just a little. Yes, she'd never been that eager to go to classes, and with Vocal Adrenaline she'd often had reason not to, but still, she was trying to fit in here and not make a bad impression by choosing classes for the amount of times they didn't take place.

"I've been asked if I wanna join the cheerleaders" she added all of the sudden, even though she had planned to lead up to it.

Shelby folded her arms.

"Do you want to join?"

"I don't know" Beth replied, turning her head down.

"Two of them were talking to me after gym class, because I apparently did quite well in there, and they introduced me to their friends and everything. They're nice girls."

"Oh, I'm sure they are. But do you want to join?"

Beth cupped her face in desperation before she answered.

"I don't know! I mean, it's a perfect chance to become part of that school and everything, but it goes so fast! They offered me to try out as soon as tomorrow, even before I was done with my first day. I know _nothing _of this school yet. What if they just invited me to make fun of me?"

"Hm" Shelby nodded heavily. "Sounds like a problem. Why don't you just go and check it out?"

"Mom, you're not helping."

"Well, it's your choice if you want to commit to another team or not" she thought aloud, before she got up all of the sudden.

"Why don't we just go on a walk with Antoinette? A little bit of fresh air can't hurt."

"Sure" Beth nodded, pleased to get out of the house, as great as it was.

"Tony!" Shelby called, and the German shepherd barked. She seemed as happy to get out as Beth did.

They ended up walking and talking for more than two hours. The only reason why they turned around was that Antoinette seemed to get a little tired.

It was nice to have so much time together. Beth had missed it. Sure, the last days they had spent a great deal of time with each other as well, but back then she was just so nervous and didn't even realize it over all her worries.

Now, that they actually were living in the new house and had started their respective new school and job, something like normality came back into their lives.

And although Beth enjoyed, for it had made her forget about not having any friends close yet, she had come to a decision by the time they walked back into the house.

"I'm trying out" she said, as she tried to not kick away her shoes in the clean entrance. "I'm calling the coach and ask if I can really come in tomorrow already."

Shelby smiled. "It's nice to see that you're so sure of it now."

"Well, what do I win when I only semi-try?" Beth asked her.

Then she went to her room to come up with some sort of choreography she could use for trying out.

* * *

><p>The next morning Beth went to school early, the sport bag over her shoulder.<p>

It was different than the other morning, the hallways were only half empty, not entirely. Every other moment there were students who rushed by or were sitting together, not having to go to class too soon.

She was still late for the official beginning of cheerleading practice, but since she was only going to try out it didn't really matter. They had called Coach Sylvester last night, and she was supposed to actually get to do something on her own only at the end of practice. The coach offered her to come in earlier and watch, though.

As she walked through the music hallway, the bell that reminded students of their early appointments rang, and turning around the corner she almost ran into Linaya and the dreadlock girl from theater class.

"Good morning!" Linaya greeted her excitedly while the other girl just shot her a short smile.

"You're prepared for gym today quite well, I see."

"It's not just for gym" Beth explained, gratefully that Linaya still talked to her and didn't just do so in lack of other people around. "I'm trying out for cheerleading today."

Linaya grimaced at the announcement, the other girl didn't look too pleased as well.

"Well, good luck then. See you in gym." Linaya's voice didn't sound that warm anymore.

"Tamara and I have rehearsal now anyways."

She smiled a smile that seemed forced, as the two of them continued towards the choir room, leaving Beth wondering what was wrong with being a cheerleader.

She shrugged and turned into the hallway with the locker rooms.

There was faint, up-beat music that probably came from the gym. Beth decided to go and watch first before she'd change for the try-out.

As she approached the main entrance to the gym, she spotted a lank boy with black hair who peeked through the glass in the door; folders, books and some sort of a grey gadget resting on the ground next to him.

He seemed really drawn into what he saw and yet he looked like he wouldn't be interested in girls at all to this point.

"Excuse me" Beth couldn't help but saying, "Aren't you a little young to spy on girls?"

The boy spun around in panic. He turned out to be an Asian, with giant glasses and a face that there was no way he was actually attending this high school.

"Are you a sibling or a son or what?" she asked, as had to be with either a student or a teacher from this school.

The boy recovered from the shock and looked at her over the frame of his glasses.

"As a matter of fact, I'm a student here, listed as a ninth grader, so-called freshman."

Beth frowned. The boy faced her full font now, showing off his strange outfit consisting dress pants, a white cotton shirt and a bow tie, like he was trying to copy a professor of some sorts.

She wondered it this was Principal Cameron, turned into a child by some supernatural forces.

"Yeah, right. I gotta go now." She reached for the doorknob of the gym.

"No!" the boy cried out, quickly stepping in between her and the door.

"I swear, coach Sylvester had killed people who tried to spy on her Cheerios." He waved his arms in horror, his eyes wide open.

"Ooookay" Beth stretched her reply as long as possible, feeling slightly threatened by the abnormal behavior of the small Asian.

"As a matter of fact" she mimicked him, "I'm trying out today."

"So you are a new student, I see" he replied instantly, not getting the irony of her words at all.

"I'll forgive you for your inappropriate encounter then, as you didn't know better."

Beth tried to protest, but it was like she'd broken a dam, as he continued to happily chatter on.

"May I introduce myself? I, you should know, have an IQ of 160 and skipped two or three grades, too much to remember. I'm first in every single class and president of the science club. My name is Everett, may you tell me yours?"

He offered her his hand, in the most stiff and polite way possible. Certainly, he wasn't a real young boy.

His boyish appearance and still high voice didn't quite match his way of dressing and talking.

"Beth" she said slowly and shook his hand, carefully trying not to press too hard.

"Nice to meet you then, Elizabeth" he nodded.

"No, it's just Beth" she corrected, confused. If her name would actually be Elizabeth, she would go with "Liz" or "Lizzie" as a nickname for sure.

"I see" Everett responded, "Do you have a middle name I can call you by then?"

Beth didn't know if she should laugh or not, since he seemed extremely serious about addressing her correctly.

"No" she finally repeated, "It's just Beth."

Everett nodded again as a group of students passed them and bent down to pick up his stuff, like he hadn't just stood there and secretly watched a bunch of girls doing flips.

His arms full with books and the grey box, he started chatting about his science project while Beth impatiently stepped from one foot to another, quietly pulling out her phone to check for the time.

There was still half an hour of practice left before she actually had to come in and try out, but the braniac Asian made her feel a little too uncomfortable to spend the left time with.

She noticed the two jocks coming up only with the corner of her eye, not paying much attention to them.

What came next happened too fast for Beth to reconstruct.

Both the guys were carrying plastic cups and all of the sudden, with no warning except for a random giggle; they dumped the contents on their heads, blue for Everett, red for Beth.

Everett gasped and reached up to take off his glasses while she herself was too shocked to do anything but slowly touching her wet cheek, feeling the sticky cold liquid running down her neck.

The jocks laughed like one of them had just told a horribly funny story.

"Time to be a little less frozen, nerdy boy" one of them joked.

The tiny boy muttered something too quiet to be heard and looked down on his feet.

"What's wrong with you?" Beth finally found her voice again, "We didn't do any harm to you!"

"Sorry to hurt your feelings, Missy, but we have a strict no-nerd-policy in this school" the first guy, a big blonde, said amused.

"Yeah, and don't wear green here as well" the other, freakishly tall one joined in, commenting on her bright green cardigan. "Red looks much better on you."

"Be cool or we make you cool." They high-fived, obviously enjoying the joke, before they walked away.

Beth was burning with rage, but there was nothing she could do about it. She checked on Everett, who had sunken on the floor, ignoring the blue liquid that was slowly dripping from his face and staining his white shirt.

"Gosh, are you alright?" suddenly a voice asked.

A teacher had just come out of one of the classrooms and now looked at them, worried.

He was quite handsome, of average height with dark curls and slightly foreign looks, casually clothed in jeans and a black polo shirt. He carried a giant mug of fresh coffee in his left hand.

Even before any of them answered, he stepped forward and helped up Everett.

"Time hasn't really changed a lot" he sighed, pulling out some tissues. "You should think they'd gotten rid of the slushy machines already, but it's the traditional, sacred food chain …"

He smiled warmly at Beth and handed her a tissue.

"What's your name?"

She cleaned up enough that she felt like she could move without fear again.

"Beth" she muttered. "Thank you."

The teacher winked and took a sip of his coffee. "Nothing to thank for."

"You're alright, Everett?"

"Yes, Mr. Anderson" the Asian said firmly and stood as tall as possible. "Sorry that I missed rehearsal this morning, but we had an important science club meeting."

"No problem" Mr. Anderson replied grinning, "Now go and change into some clean clothes before you freeze to death. We can deal with you missing one rehearsal, but there's no need for you to catch pneumonia and stay in bed for an entire week…"

Everett nodded, grabbed his stuff again and hurried away.

Mr. Anderson turned to Beth, his expression still wonderfully warm.

"I'm so sorry for this welcome. It's quite an energy in this school" he apologized.

"I hope you have something to change with you?"

"Yes" Beth said, incredibly happy over her habit to put on fresh clothing after workouts.

"I'm Mr. Anderson, by the way. I'm the music and theater teacher at this school."

"Oh, I'm taking theater this semester!" Beth blurted out.

"That's great!" he beamed at her, "I'm really looking forward to see you there! But now excuse me please, we have another musical rehearsal. Take care, Beth."

Mr. Anderson waved at her as he walked away, and she turned to the locker room to get changed.

He seemed like the nicest of her teachers so far – neither as mean as Mr. Weide with his tons of homework, nor as tiring as Mrs. Steve and her monologues, nor as stiff and formal as Miss Delaware and not so consumed with nothing but his own subject like Mr. Lathe.

Yes, she was really looking forward to see how theater class was like.

She smiled as she put down her bag in the empty locker room.

People here were meaner and nicer at the same time.

But at least they were much more interesting as she could've ever imagined.


	9. Chapter 9

_Okay you guys, I'm back home with the very laptop I write this story on :)_

_I had an awesome trip - finally got to see New York (BROADWAY!) - and I'm really jelaous of all US citizens amongst you right now, because the urge to be one myself has never been this strong._

_Well, anyways, thanks for waiting. Though you didn't really have a choice, I know ..._

_This chapter is introducing a kind of held off version of Sue as well as more OCs that have kind of insisted to be part of that story._

* * *

><p>Once Beth had changed and walked into the gym, she started questioning her decision.<p>

Those cheerleaders were good.

They were in the middle of a complicated choreography that involved high kicks, pyramids and a lot of jumping high up in the air.

Some of the girls seemed like they barely caught up with the speed – nevertheless, it must be difficult.

An elderly woman with short hair and a bright-red track suit stood in front of the squad and yelled at them through a big megaphone.

"If you don't stop resembling the energy of koala bears, I dare you to feed on eucalyptus until Nationals!"

Beth frowned and silently climbed up the bleachers to sit down in the upper corner.

She spotted Melissa and Anita, the first being on top of the pyramid, the latter pirouetting in the air, thrown up by a couple of muscular boys. There were a few other familiar faces, girls she'd met in class yesterday, but couldn't remember the names of.

"Sloppy! You're sloppy!" yelled the coach as the music ended, leaving them with risen arms and forced smiles.

"If you don't kick it up a notch, I'll call the local drug dealer and let you ship to Columbia to turn you into sleeping pills. You're dismissed!"

As the girls slowly retreated to the locker rooms, breathing heavily, Beth walked towards coach Sylvester.

"Oh, hi Beth" Melissa stopped to greet her, still smiling and one of the few that weren't out of breath at all.

"Hey kid, are you the new one? Then let's get over with this."

The coach waved her over on the gym floor. Melissa stayed back as Beth carefully stepped forward.

"Morning, Beth" said Anita who joined Melissa as Beth set her feet on the floor.

"Get your butt out of here, Toasty" snarled coach Sylvester.

Turning red, Anita hurried outside, the other girl twitching like she was about to follow her.

"Lizzie The Third, you stay and watch the newbie. It was your suggestion after all – if she's no good, you'll do a hundred push-ups for me."

Melissa shrugged and sat down a couple of feet away from the coach, who leaned back and crossed her arms.

For a few seconds she just stared at Beth, with no tangible expression on her face.

"Good, transfer kid, show us what you've got" she finally said, her voice surprisingly soft compared to her harsh tone earlier.

"Can I get some music?" Beth asked hesitantly.

She was a dancer after all – she did better with music.

The coach nodded sharply and then screamed: "Scarecrow! Music!"

A skinny girl who had lingered around the locker room doors spun around and hastily ran to the tech box in the corner of the room. After a few seconds, a fast beat echoed through the gym.

Beth closed her eyes only to open them again after a few seconds. The music's pace was perfect.

She did a slightly altered version of the `Disturbia´ choreography, with more spins, jumps and kicks; and less dancing. It showed off her current ability quite well without being to difficult.

Suddenly the music became faster.

Trying to hide her confusion on the outside, Beth sped up her performance as well, forced to go with the beat. The faces of the coach and Melissa were stiff like stone, almost alienate.

But Beth ignored it. She did the triple spin to close the number, faster than she had ever done it before.

As she landed on her feet perfectly and held up her arms, she was out of breath.

And again, coach Sylvester only stared.

Beth moved uncomfortably, catching a short glimpse of Melissa narrowing her eyes aggressively.

But her expression changed immediately into a broad smile as she saw Beth looking at her.

"If you don't wear your uniform _every single day_, I'll kick you out."

It took her a few moments to process this information. It meant that she'd made it.

"Melissa will pick one out for you, and show you the current choreography until next practice, today at five, out on the field. Don't be late. Welcome to the Squad, Q."

"Q?" Beth whispered as Melissa approached her.

"She gives everyone weird nicknames" the brunette muttered back as she let her to a side exit. "Anita's called Toasty ever since she got burned tanning, poor girl. And I still haven't figured out why she's always calling me Lizzie III."

Beth shot her a side-glance. She was definitely walking around - nose up - like a Queen.

"Are you the head cheerleader then?" she asked as they entered a room with cartons full of uniforms waiting.

"Yeah" Melissa answered shortly while she dug through a pile of red skirts.

Then she turned around and looked at Beth.

"And even though you're good – you're not getting in my place, am I clear? That's how it's gonna work. You don't want to have me as an enemy, so you better keep calm."

She shoved the uniform in Beth's arms, her voice cold.

Beth swallowed hard.

"I'm not trying to replace anybody" she said quietly, "I know my place."

"Good" Melissa smiled, "We'll be great friends then. Meet me here 3:30 for the choreography."

And so Beth became a Cheerio.

From the moment she put on her new uniform, people had respect. They were even afraid of her, though she hadn't done anything to cause fear.

When she walked down the halls – usually accompanied by at least two other cheerleaders – the other students jumped out of the way.

The cheerleaders were on top of the food chain, it was even clearer than before.

Kids in class were almost battling each other to sit next to her or be partners, boys were awkwardly hitting on her – all because of the uniform.

She even had one of the jocks with the slushies from earlier come up to her and apologize, a fearful sparkling in his eyes.

It felt great.

Sure, they had been on top with Vocal Adrenaline as well. But back then people had rather feared and avoided them altogether, here they searched their presence, as if they were hoping for their glorious light to shine on the lesser as well.

In gym class she found herself running next to Linaya.

Melissa and Anita told her that they never ran fast, they didn't need to. Then, as they slowly jogged at the end of a long line of students, she discovered her shoe laces were loose, so she stopped to tie them.

As she was done, Linaya just passed her, heavily breathing and sweating.

"Hey" Beth said as she caught up with her.

"Congrats" Linaya replied unemotional after a glimpse on her brand-new uniform.

"You're popular now and it's just your second day. There're not a lot of people who make that."

"It's crazy, isn't it?" Beth replied, ignoring the animosity in her voice.

"It's unfair!" the other girl snapped back. "We've been winning half of the Nationals in the last four years, but we're still outcasts!"

"We?"

"The glee club. As if you wouldn't know. Nobody likes losers and geeks, they could be more talented than any No.1 hit singer, and they're still not popular. People like us perform, but they don't like _us_."

The pounding of her feet on the asphalt grew harder.

Beth was surprised.

Not only about the fact that Linaya was in glee club, for she seemed nothing like the singing type at all.

But that glee club seemed to be unpopular?

Those people had won more national titles in the last decade than Vocal Adrenaline, and yet they were considered losers?

Linaya slowed down a little, as did Beth to stay with her and ask her more about the curious case of an unpopular glee club.

"Beth!" Melissa's voice hit her harshly just then, "Come on!"

"Sorry" she whispered to Linaya who smiled sadly, mouthing `_See?_´, and jogged forward to the other two cheerleaders who were waiting impatiently for her.

They took her in the middle and forced her to run a little faster.

"You shouldn't talk to her, she's bottom class. It will weaken your – our – reputation, and that's the most important thing we've got" Melissa explained calmly like talking to an unknowing child.

"You're one of us now. You don't need them" Anita added, looking back over her shoulder.

"Right."

Beth took their advice. She didn't try to talk to any non-cheerleaders the rest of the day up to her last period.

It wasn't too much of a hard task, since there was always a swarm of girls in red and white uniforms around.

It was like Vocal Adrenaline all over again … no, it wasn't. It was different because she had the power to make or don't make the moves towards other people.

She started to get the idea on how it all worked. You were part of a certain group that defined your popularity, as well as you defined that group's popularity.

Swim with the current, try to stick to you stereotype and do your routine, so nothing out of the normal will bother you.

And as it looked, she had found her group with the cheerleaders.

So when she walked into theater class for the first time, she felt uncomfortable.

There were no other cheerleaders.

In fact, only the weirdest type of kids seemed to be present in the room – she spotted Linaya, Tamara and Everett, and they looked very normal and uninteresting compared to some of the others.

Three plump girls, probably triplets, and a chunky boy, dressed up in wide gowns, were reciting some old Shakespeare piece to each other, while a tall boy examined the chairs closely, like he was searching for attached bombs or something and another one with everything black about him besides his pale skin – hair, fingernails, clothing, eyeliner – was staring strangely up to some spot in the air.

In the corner two girls were chatting loudly, a pretty Indian in a pink Sari and a loud ginger with extremely big gesturing.

Beth felt a flash of relief as she spotted to boys, a black and a white one, in letterman jackets, followed immediately by guilt, because she already went for the other obvious popular kids.

She nodded a small `Hi´ in the room, when Mr. Anderson already came in, his steps full of enthusiasm.

"Hi guys" he beamed at them, so full of joy that it was surreal.

They slowly made their ways to the desks.

Beth found herself next to Tamara and Linaya whom she smiled at once again, before looking up to the teacher in front of them.

"So, as some of you already know, I'm Mr. Anderson and your theater teacher for this year."

He sat on his desk, folding his arms.

"This isn't just supposed to be a fun class, just for your information. We're learning about being a character here, and that's a big deal for you life, guys. Acting is being comfortable enough with yourself to fully throw your everything into a role. It's about self-acceptance and self-awareness – and about courage, of course."

As he spoke the last words, he jumped up again and began walking down the aisle.

Reaching the end, followed by the turning head of the students, he stood still and said: "I guess some of you don't know each other very well yet." He smiled at Beth sympathetically. "So we're starting with a small exercise that will help us both express ourselves and learn about each other."

All of the sudden, he climbed up on an empty desk that shook insecurely.

Beth saw Tamara and Linaya exchange an amused look while she was wondering what in the world she had gotten herself into.

"I'm Blaine Anderson and I absolutely adore old fairytales" he shouted, forming a funnel with his hands. "Maybe you go next, Everett? Just climb up the table – "

Mr. Anderson reached down from his lifted position to help Everett in the desk before him.

The kid carefully stepped on his chair and tried to shove his stuff to the side before he took the final step to stand tall far over the other student's heads.

"Great, and now tell us your name and some random fact about you!" the teacher continued enthusiastically.

"My name is Everett Chang, and I don't like rice" he said stiffly but smiling as Linaya started to clap and the others joined in.

Looking down he started climbing down again, but Mr. Anderson held him back.

"Stay!" he said. "We're going to wait up here for the others to introduce themselves."

The tiny Asian shrugged and remained standing on his desk.

At the same time, Linaya and the ginger girl started getting up.

Linaya rolled her eyes as she saw the other one and stopped moving. The girl didn't even notice that she'd just taken her spot.

"I'm Belle Thetis and I've starred in ten musical and dance productions."

"Boring!" the first letterman jacket guy declared.

"Tell us something new, Dancing Queen" the black guy added and they fist-fived.

If it had been possible, Belle's glare would have killed them.

"Fine", she said. "My favorite food is curly fries."

"Woohoo" the boy cheered, "I knew you don't like your diet as much as you claim."

"Shut it, Eliah" the Indian girl snapped and stood up, managing to be even be glamorous while climbing up somehow, very Bollywood-like.

"I'm Aashi Asanti and where I come from we worship cows."

The boy whistled and Mr. Anderson raised his eyebrows at them but said nothing. Neither of the students seemed to take the quarrel very seriously.

"I'm Linaya Lemon" – she ignored the giggles, it was obviously not the first time – "and the only color I don't really like to wear is pink."

Now there were five people standing on their desks – Mr. Anderson, Everett, Belle, Aashi and Linaya.

While Everett seemed to be rather ashamed of this position, Belle and Aashi used the opportunity to show off a look-down-on-everybody attitude and Mr. Anderson and Linaya just stood there as if it was the most normal thing to do in the whole world.

The other ones didn't look like they were going to join them, though.

"That's so childish" Tamara whispered. The triplets shared awkward glances, Eliah and the other guy leaned back and the tall boy who had examined the chairs earlier seemed to be torn in between the urge to jump up and join the fun and sit back and not make a fool out of himself.

"Don't be shy, guys" Mr. Anderson tried to encourage them, but they all managed to avoid his pleading eyes.

"I promise, when we've reached the middle of the semester you'll have to keep yourself from jumping on the desks in other classes because it's so much fun."

Still no reaction except for some quit giggles.

"What about you, Beth?"

She straightened up in shock.

"Err, sure …"

If there was a time when her body skills would come in handy, this was it. But of course, being the dance star of Vocal Adrenaline and the cheerleader fresh from the oven, she managed to kick her pencils of the desk in the most embarrassing way.

She tried to ignore the loud rattle as they hit the ground.

The classroom looked strange from her new point of view. All the remaining students in their seats were smaller, and the ground so much further down.

"I'm Beth Corcoran" she started. And didn't know how to go on.

What could she possibly tell about herself? That she had been in VA? That she was a cheerleader now? That she liked to sing and dance? That she was adopted?

She felt all eyes on her.

Those kids were strangers. The brief encounters with some of them didn't count. What would they like to hear?

Beth had never been in the spotlight like this before. She had never been on top alone. She'd always been determined that she was born to be some kind of a star – but now, she wasn't so sure about it anymore. It was pretty scary to be this alone.

"And I … I …"

Dear lord, it felt like an eternity she stood up there, watched by the other students and Mr. Anderson.

Wasn't it just a week ago that she had been doing complicated singing and dancing in front of hundreds of people – judges, professionals? Hadn't she just done an amazing choreography in front of the hardest cheerleading coach to possibly walk this earth?

And yet here she was, standing on a school desk in front of only a few people she barely knew, tripping over a single spoken line that didn't even have to be that creative or amazing or anything.

"I've never done something like this before."

Oh crap. She had just said it out loud.

The students were silent, still staring. Mr. Anderson nodded gratefully.

And Beth stood there on her desk and felt like hiding somewhere. But she couldn't possibly do so. She held on.

"I'm Alec and I'm determined to find the piece of taco-flavored gum that a senior last year has left somewhere under a chair in this school."

That was the tall, chair-checking guy. He had spiky hair and his word ran off so fast that it was hard to follow.

The triplets were Helena, Hermia and Hippotyla, poor girl. Their friend's name was Bert.

The guy with Eliah was Phillip, and the both of them were apparently football players as he declared to be the most proud of a touch-down in the first minute.

Second last to climb up was the pale emo guy who said out his name – Ben – and his love for Edgar Allan Poe in a soft, melodic voice, followed only by Tamara who had the attitude of a mocking bird and freely exclaimed that she once smoked weed in the bathroom, causing Mr. Anderson to twitch uncomfortably.

Then he started talking about some acting basics, as if they weren't all standing on their desks.

It was only after ten minutes that he told them to sit back down.

Beth knew that this was going to be the strangest class in her life. But in a good way.

* * *

><p><em>And some of you doubted that it was our Blaine. He's even jumping on furniture, just so you would belive me ;)<em>

_Up next, inspired by Broadway, some Rachel Berry ..._


	10. Chapter 10

_I'm sorry guys, that I've actually been home without posting much ... but believe me, my work at a children's daycamp was way more exhausting than I thought it would be._

_Anyways, Rachel Berry._

_Because her birth isn't the only secret Beth has yet to discover about her family ;)_

* * *

><p><em>So<em> much pain.

So _much_ pain.

So much _pain_.

Beth had known that it wasn't going to be easy, and she was used to rough days from Vocal Adrenaline.

But this was just insane.

She had met Melissa right after theater class, happy to get distracted and still strangely sad to not be around those interesting people anymore.

And then – practice.

They had gone over the current choreography. Melissa was a hard teacher, but at least she really seemed to try, and Beth actually had a pretty good idea of the things she had to do in the big group.

So then the regular practice started and they had been doing push ups, crunches and laps until their very last breath even before they started the actual cheerleading part.

Now, Beth was just exhausted.

She had texted her mom that she had made the squad and it was going to be late, but Shelby didn't expect her daughter to act like she'd reached an oasis after five days of wandering through an empty dessert. She had barely enough energy left to say hi and hit the shower.

Shelby laughed at her when she finally came out and threw herself on the couch.

"I take it that it's not the easiest sport to do?"

"Not at all" Beth moaned, feeling her muscles ache already. "But we get better lunch than the other kids."

"I guess it's worth it then. So are you hungry yet?"

"Are you kidding? I've been working out for over three hours straight, with no breaks and no easy rounds. Of course I am! What's for supper?"

Her mom laughed again.

"Well, Rachel wants us to come over, so she can properly welcome us in her hometown. Taylor has his nightshift, so it would be a good time."

Beth groaned.

"Don't get me wrong, mom, but I don't really feel like going anywhere right now."

"Hm" Shelby curled her lips. "Too bad. I already told her we were coming. She's making lasagna."

"Lasagna?" Beth jumped up. "Why didn't you tell me? Let's go, now!"

All of the sudden, she didn't feel her sore body anymore. Oh, how she loved any kind of Italian food! There had to be more complications to keep her and lasagna apart.

"I knew you would like that" Shelby grinned satisfied.

* * *

><p>"Welcome!" smiled Rachel with a slightly surprised tone, even though she shouldn't be surprised at all.<p>

Someone was rumbling further in, and Beth was confused to see a grey-haired man step out of the walk-in closet, in a long coat and with a grey woolen scarf in his hand.

He looked at them questioning first, then his face brightened and he smiled.

"Look Leroy who's here!" he shouted upstairs.

"The Dundrums are already here? I'm down in a minute" a male voice replied.

Rachel looked to Shelby, her eyes wide open.

"I'm sorry" she whispered, "They were supposed to be gone by now."

Beth's head turned to her mother in puzzlement, but she only smiled warmly and said: "So why don't you introduce us, Rachel?"

Rachel just stood there for a split second, her mouth open in something like shock, before she managed to smile.

"Right. So Shelby, Beth, this is my dad, Hiram."

She pointed to the man next to the closet whose eyes were flickering in between the three women while slowly wrapping the scarf around his neck, as another man, colored, walked down the stairs.

"And that's my other dad, Leroy."

Beth did her best not to frown. She was caught a little off-guard with Rachel having _two_ dads.

_Funny_, she thought instead of making the obvious connections that would make her feel awkward immediately, _she's got two and I've got none._

"This is Shelby Corcoran, an old … friend, and her daughter Beth."

Leroy approached them zestfully with widely spread arms in a pace like he wanted to hug them.

Right before he reached Shelby, he suddenly stopped himself, sticking out only his right arm for a handshake.

"Nice to …" he looked at Rachel who gestured him to go on, "… meet you, Shelby. And you two Beth."

Shelby kept a straight face while Beth turned to her multiple times to see her reaction on the strange meeting.

"Nice to meet you too" she said calmly.

Hiram also shook their hands, his expression caught somewhere between a warm smile and gas pains.

After quickly stepping back and smiling at them again uncomfortably, he cleared his throat and looked to his husband.

"We should … get going, darling."

"I agree" Leroy replied, nodding at them. "Have a good dinner."

They quickly made their way out.

Beth watched them, trying to figure out why it had been so weird meeting them. It was like they had known them extremely well at first – only to be replaced by the awkwardness of an uncalled first meeting.

Maybe they thought being kind was too gay do display just yet?

"They're not used to me having people over yet" Rachel said, following her eyes. "I haven't stayed with them for a long time."

The girl only nodded and observed how the two men walked down the driveway. She didn't catch the relieved looks the women were exchanging.

She started making up theories again. Clearly, Rachel was adopted, just like herself, which would make them something like … sisters-in-mind or whatever. Maybe she'd been the product of a teen pregnancy herself. Or one of her dads had had a wife before noticing he was gay. Then he'd met the other one and followed by a lot of dramatic speeches and declarations of love, he had chosen him over his wife and after divorce he had taken the little girl. Maybe because her mom started drinking and got in a car accident, and her dad didn't know if feeling relieved was right and … Oh well.

Beth liked that story. But it probably was nothing more than a story.

"So how long do you plan on staying with your dads?" Shelby asked as Rachel brought the lasagna from the kitchen.

"Well, I've already got an offer for a new production in the late fall, so it won't be too long. Just until the end of summer" she answered while cutting.

"You're still asked for on Broadway or are you planning on retiring soon?"

Rachel laughed.

"Of course they still want me. I do think that the roles of the shining heroine get lesser and the ones of the more twisted antagonists are more common, but there is no decline in offers at all. They were all extremely sad when I declared my one-year break. About three shows had to look for other singers to fill in …"

She sounded incredibly satisfied with herself.

Suddenly an idea crossed Beth's mind as she started picking pieces from the lasagna.

"Wait, did we see her already, mom?"

Every once in a while the went down to New York city to stay with old friends of Shelby's – compared to Rachel, _very_ old friends – and thus they had seen quite a lot of Broadway productions already.

Beth had never paid that much attention to the cast, that she knew Rachel Berry before was merely an accident; a short documentary about her after the Tony's two years ago. But with Shelby and her being friends, how was there a chance that they hadn't met her down in the city?

"We did see her" her mom confirmed smoothly, "Twice, actually, but she was hard to recognize. Once was in _Wicked_, the other time in _The Show Monster_, the Lady Gaga musical everybody was freaking out about."

"Justifiably. I've always had a strong connection to Gaga. She has shaped our generation" Rachel threw in.

"But why didn't we meet her. I mean, are you're friends or what?" Beth continued, after appreciating the personal comment of a famous Broadway singer for a brief moment.

She couldn't quite decide whether to look at her mom or at Rachel.

"Yes Shelby, why haven't you introduced us?" Rachel added, and she seemed almost more curious than Beth was.

The girl decided to only look at her mom now.

"Well" Shelby got started and took a deep breath, staring at Rachel, "I didn't want to invade her personal space, she was well-asked for. I thought we were not so good friends."

"Not so good friends" Rachel echoed absently and Beth frowned.

"So why did you invite us, if you haven't even been close enough to chat after a performance?"

Jeez, why couldn't she just let it go? But it seemed weird, and there was no way she could leave this relationship open only half uncovered now.

"Oh … well, I just thought … you know, it maybe would be nice … After we ran into each other at your choir competition, and Shelby's told me about your plans … moving to my town of origin, I thought it would be nice to have … someone to turn to. To be welcomed by."

Rachel started gesturing awkwardly, very uncommon for a professional like her.

Then her voice grew steady.

"If you don't want my help, we could just let it be, though" she said a little accusing at Beth's still doubting look.

"Oh no, Rachel, we really appreciate your kindness, don't we Beth?"

Shelby raised her eyebrows at her daughter.

"I'm sure she's still a little upset to be so close to such a legend like you."

"Well, she wouldn't be the first one" Rachel replied flattered and fixed her hair with a satisfied smile.

"I'm sure you have a lot of questions for me about my work, so why don't we get those settled now and move beyond the star to fan relationship?"

"Yeah" Beth said quietly as Rachel leaned back and her mom casually ate her food, pretending that they were already nothing but friends sharing dinner.

"What was your favorite part?" she asked slowly. She had to get used to this first.

"Aah, good question" Rachel replied and closed her eyes. "Elphaba in Wicked, of course – you've seen me, you must have noticed. It was my first lead on Broadway and no other ever reached it again. I did love _Fab Fatale_ though. That wasn't a big show, and it wasn't even on Broadway, but my friend Kurt Hummel wrote it and we had an awesome time touring the country. Too bad he returned here afterwards, I haven't talked to him much lately, don't know if he has any other stuff planned. He's incredibly talented, but don't tell him! Have you actually ever heard of him?"

Beth shook her head in silence, only able to be amazed of Rachel's pure energy.

The singer smiled sadly. "I would've surprised me. He is so unique that it's always been hard for him to get on stage, that's what always got him down. He's worked so much and it never really paid off."

"I'm sorry to hear that, I liked that kid" Shelby said.

"_You know him, too_?" Beth was shocked.

Her mom chuckled. "New Directions back then, I told you it was a mess."

"Are there any more New Direction members who made it to Broadway or Hollywood or what?" Beth asked, thinking of Mr. St. James who'd apparently dreamed of exactly that.

"It sounds like the secret to success to me."

Rachel laughed.

"It kind of is. Do you want to join?" she asked.

"No!" Beth protested immediately. Just … no. She wasn't exactly missing Vocal Adrenaline, but joining its competition just yet?

"You should, though. I think they still do bake sales."

"Rachel, stop trying to recruit my daughter for your old glee club!"

The Broadway star looked at her friend innocently.

"I'm just showing her the options!" She turned towards Beth again. "If you need singing or general show advice, you can always ask me."

"Noted" Beth replied grinning.

Rachel was very self-centered and over-confident of her own talents, and she spent most of the night talking about herself; but somehow she still seemed nice doing so.

Beth got a good inside look on the play production process and a brief overview of music's late history. Also, the spontaneous performance Rachel decided to give them was a highlight for sure. A private show of a star, after all!

She was blown away by her mom's friend, and how easy it felt talking with her about the big stuff. Shelby seemed quite comfortable herself, and actually she spent the most time carrying the conversation while Beth just listened to their dialogue.

When they drove home in the dark, Shelby asked incidentally: "So, what do you think of her?"

Beth opened her mouth to answer, just to find that there were really no words to describe Rachel Berry.

"She's … intense" she finally said.

Shelby laughed.

"You mean irritating. But she's nice nevertheless."

"Is she my mother?"

Beth hadn't even thought about it recently. She had definitely not planned to ask it just yet, not with the little proof she got, and after her doubts about the relationship of the two women had faded.

But somehow it slipped, the little question she'd just asked herself several days earlier, and that sounded so ridiculous spoken aloud. And god, what would Shelby think?

Shelby glared at her.

"What made you think that?" she whispered, and for the first time ever, Beth felt scared of her.

Her voice was raspy and her eyes dark, her smile faded away into nothingness.

"Just … she keeps behaving like she knows me so well …"

_What have I done?,_ Beth thought. _Crossed the line. Changed things forever._

Or worse: What if it was true? What if Rachel was her birthmother, and she had just blown her cover?

Then Shelby started laughing, a little forced, but who wouldn't after this kind of question.

"Not at all, sweetie. Rachel couldn't be your mother at all."

Beth felt that this was the truth. She also felt that Shelby wasn't very comfortable with the way her thinking took her.

"I'm sorry, it just felt so different … I wasn't … I wasn't going to find out or anything" she tried to explain, feeling a little guilty.

And she hadn't, right? Putting pieces together on a cardboard didn't count, did it?

"Don't worry" Shelby replied softly and petted her hair. "Of course you must be wondering sometimes. I would be, too."

And so it was settled.

Rachel Berry wasn't her mother, just a crazy Broadway actress Shelby had met in high school.

But still.


	11. Chapter 11

_Why do the OCs always decide they want the major part of the storyline and get actively involved? I don't know. It's their own fault._

_I have so little control over my own stories that it's creepy._

_But Season 3 on tuesday! LET ME DIE! ... Even though it means that this will definitely go AU, since I won't consider anything happening after Season 2. I guess._

_Okay, here, chapter:_

* * *

><p>The week was finished much sooner than she'd thought it would.<p>

Time was pretty much running twice as fast as usually, probably because of all the new stuff she was experiencing.

Cheerleading was hard, no doubt, but it opened up a world she'd never seen before – crowds of people who acted like they were lifelong friends, mass tanning sessions in the local mall, carpooling with the music blasting and enjoying the high life.

At the same time, classes were hard.

She'd been warned – even though Vocal Adrenaline members had been privileged in the academic department, cheerleading didn't do that well for one's grades.

There was no nerd kid to boost the bad classes for the Cheerios. They were indeed pulled through – teachers gave them extra credit for nonsense, or they got tests beforehand – but they were expected to do their work alone.

Beth wanted to do it.

Really.

But it wasn't like she had ever needed to do this before. Of course, she was a smart girl. It was just that years of slacking off and doing no actual school work didn't get one prepared for junior classes very well.

So she didn't have a lot of time catching up with her friends at Carmel. In fact, their contact had been reduced to about one text to each, with the exception of one short phone call to Aaron on Wednesday.

On Thursday, she made a deal with the other kids from theater. Actually, it was Linaya's idea while Tamara just sat next to her with folded arms like always and Everett compared it to the constitution under his breath.

"Look, you're popular. We're not. In fact, we're constantly made fun of and stuff by popular kids. Now here's the deal: We can act all normal and friends and stuff here in class. We pretend not to know each other outside of class. We don't get in the way of your popularity; you don't pick on us and try to draw attention to other things. Sounds legit?"

Beth was stunned by that speech, and she felt sorry for Linaya and the others. Even though the colorful girl didn't talk one second without smiling and sounding like she had a whole lot of fun, it was clear that she struggled to get through school every day.

Now, Beth knew that it would be the right thing to tell her that they didn't need to pretend anything and that she would be happy to talk to them whenever she wanted.

But she liked being popular way too much.

And she didn't want to sit around alone in theater class either.

So she smiled and agreed.

"Great!" Linaya said. "To a secret friendship!"

She raised her water bottle and opened the cap dramatically before she took a good sip.

"It doesn't exactly help to be in glee club, you know? People cheer for us when we perform, but they don't think it's the thing to choose over school sports" she chatted away happily. Then she took a break and examined Beth closely.

"Maybe I shouldn't tell you that. You're a sports person. But hey, I think you're different. And if not, there's no way it will ever leave this classroom, right?"

Linaya winked.

Everett mumbled "If I were her I would switch classes in no time, even if it was team sports." He grimaced.

"Seriously, you _should_ date Alec. With your rambling powers combined you could fucking chat people to death" Tamara added grimly.

Alec, the tall spiky-haired boy, Beth remembered. She'd found out soon enough that he ran the school newspaper – and he was a reporter, indeed.

"Language, Tamara!" Mr. Anderson called from the front. "Don't get used to not being sent to the office for this."

Tamara rolled her eyes. "No prob, Mr. A. No swearing around."

Eliah strolled over to them and leaned down to Tamara.

"I don't think that rule applies to his bedroom."

The girl with the dreadlocks snorted amused. Everett turned red like a tomato.

"I heavily advise against placing images in my head. I'm underage and you could be charged for intimately harassing me for that matter" he pressed out.

"What?" Beth asked.

"That's just his way of joking" Linaya assured her, ignoring the inappropriate jokes Eliah and Tamara were exchanging.

"When he wanted a solo for Regionals he used a speech like that. Our teacher turned him down, thinking he made fun of him."

"I still believe in the ability of my unique voice to carry us to a victory towards Vocal Adrenaline" Everett insisted.

"Yeah right" Linaya said and mockingly smacked the back of his head, "And then you start to puberty right on the stage and we let those mechanical wax figurines win. No chance, little mister!"

Beth had been laughing with them but turned quiet when she heard the name of her former glee club.

Linaya turned towards her.

"Did you have a glee club at your old school? Do they compete?"

"Um … yeah. I mean, no" Beth stuttered, caught off-guard.

"Actually I was homeschooled before." The lie slipped off way too easily. Saved. There was no way she would admit being in Vocal Adrenaline towards obvious New Direction members.

"That explains how oblivious you are to things going on here – no offense."

"No offense taken" Beth replied relieved. That was a very good excuse. She imagined living it. _Sorry, didn't know. I was homeschooled. Oh, it's considered weird? Sorry, I was homeschooled._

"Where did you learn cheerleading though? There are tons of girls who want to be on the squad every year, and Coach Sylvester practically has to shove them away with a snowplow. But you get in the middle of the year without even having sworn the oath of lifelong obedience to her or something like that."

Maybe it wasn't the best excuse after all.

"Yeah … I was a dancer." Good thing using this again.

"And I did gymnastics."

It was surprisingly easy to build yourself a fake identity. Beth almost believed it herself, it sounded so realistic.

"Do you sing?" Linaya asked next, causing Beth to shift uncomfortably in her seat. Did her looks tell somehow that she, in fact, _was_ a singer?

"Oh, I'm sorry. That probably sounded like I tried to recruit you for glee club, right? Bad idea after telling you how unpopular we are. You could consider it, though. Wait, no. Forget it, it's okay. I don't want to pressure you, or anything."

She still had her unclosed waterbottle in her left hand, so when she wildly gestured to find back on track, she spilled water everywhere, including Tamara.

"Linaya, I love you very much" the girl said angrily. "But if you don't hold it right now sister, I swear you're going down."

"Tamara, no threatening in class!" Mr. Anderson said sternly, but his eyes twitched.

"I don't want to know what he threatens in the bed …" Eliah started again.

"STOP IT!" Everett shouted, cupping his ears with both hands.

"Exactly, Everett" Mr. Anderson smiled, obviously not hearing Eliah's comment.

"Time to start class everybody! Today, we'll talk about pets …"

"Pets?" Aashi asked suspiciously, only to make Mr. Anderson radiate enthusiasm like the sun.

"I believe every one of you had once imitated a cat or a dog …" he started.

Tamara facepalmed. "This can't be happening."

Beth could see the twitching corners of her mouth and the amused look in Eliah's eyes as he walked away.

* * *

><p>When the weekend came around, she drove down to Carmel.<p>

It was only a single week ago that she had moved from here, but it felt already like a strange place for her. As soon as you weren't part of a town anymore, it would let you feel it.

Beth parked in front of Aaron's house; apparently, as he was the only one she truly missed when she had a break in her busy days.

Mrs. Sumpton, Aaron's mom, opened up, her round face lighting up as she recognized Beth.

"Nice to see you, sweetie! How are you? Is Lima treating you alright?"

She hugged the girl like she'd been gone forever.

Beth smiled at her, and yes, everything was fine but she had to get used to it first.

Her boyfriend's mom was satisfied with that answer.

"So do you want to see Aaron or did you come over for a good lady chat, huh?" She winked and bumped her elbow in the direction of Beth's hips in the awkward attempt of a parent to seem funny.

"Oh, Aaron lives here?" Beth played along, although she rolled her eyes on the inside. Mrs. Sumpton was nice and caring, but she was certainly oblivious to the things teenagers said, did and found funny.

The woman snickered. "I think he does, I haven't seen him much around lately. Mr. St. James takes up the practice schedule off limits. He should be finished by now, but he hasn't texted me yet to get lunch ready, so I assume they're still rehearsing. You can wait here, if you want to. Would you like a sandwich?"

"Thank you very much, Mrs. Sumpton, but I think I'll try to get a hold of him at the school" Beth excused herself before she semi-waved and turned around to her car.

"If he wants to take you somewhere you can tell him it's on me!" the woman yelled after her.

It didn't take her long to get to her old school, and even though the town had been strange, the high school was still oddly familiar.

As she turned in the parking lot next to the back door, she felt herself shivering at the sight of the building in anticipation.

_It has been only a week_, she told herself. _It's not like you're going to enter a whole new world._

When she opened the door to walk inside, she didn't know whether to feel absolutely normal – she _had _done this multiple times, after all – or guilty for casually walking in a school that wasn't hers anymore.

For a brief second she wanted to turn towards the dressing rooms, before she remembered that she wasn't here to practice.

As she reached the black door leading to the stage she felt the deep beat of music through it. She closed her eyes and smiled, and then she walked past it happily.

About three weeks ago, she had been late, stumbling through this exact door after hearing the same kind of bass through it.

Back then, she had been terrified of Stames' angry stares, now she could just sneak right behind him.

With a grin on her face she found the stairs that led to the galleries in the dark auditorium.

Sunken back in a chair, a strange new feeling, she watched her former club mates rehears.

It was easy to tell that the number was new; there faces were mostly grimly, no signs of the famous show face they had to improve on for every single performance.

The dance moves were awkward at times and the harmonies too sharp, but it would be a whole lot of song once it was completed.

For a moment, she felt left out.

That was a stage after all. Being on a stage – _this_ stage - was everything her life had been about.

Then Jesse St. James shot a barrel full of insults at the dancers and reminded her of the dark side.

"One more time. Then I want you to walk home in shame."

Beth was proud when she saw Aaron standing tall and confident and almost challenging at their coaches words. She was long past that pink glasses stage concerning him, but he _was_ doing his part perfectly.

She moved down towards the end of the song to get him right from the stage, suddenly yearning to have him close again.

Halfway down Mr. St. James spotted her and looked at her in disbelief, which she replied to with a look that hopefully said something like:"Hi, nice to see you again, just getting my boyfriend, and actually I kinda still belong here, no reason to be mad, you know?"

"We'll talk after this" he mouthed back and she had to calm down her shivering with the fact that she wasn't part of this anymore and he couldn't do anything to her.

She was just here to pick up Aaron.

As the song was over, the coach dismissed Vocal Adrenaline, and they scuffed out of the auditorium, exhausted.

Some of them saw Beth and came to greet her, when Mr. St. James decided to let loose the thunderstorm of a speech he'd decided to give her.

"Are you spying, Corcoran?" he began sharply, not caring that Jackie had just pulled Beth in a tight embrace.

Slowly, the VA members backed away; too afraid to stay close but too curious to go at the same time.

"I just wanted to see Aaron. It's not my fault he isn't home yet."

"Don't even try it. You're working for those New Directions now, right? Did they think they could send you here without us noticing just because you used to be one of us?"

Beth noticed her friends wincing at the notion of New Directions. Right. She hadn't exactly told them which the glee club's name of her new school was.

And to be honest, she'd almost forgotten herself, as nobody at McKinley seemed to care about it too much. Okay, not to be honest.

Of course she remembered. Mostly Linaya, sometimes Everett and a lot of Belle reminded her every single day in theater.

But she had never seen them the way she had just the day when Aaron told her they were their competition for Regionals.

Shoot.

Regionals. There was _no way_ she could be missing them. Aaron would be so disappointed. But she had basically just told members of New Direction that she didn't know any other glee clubs.

Well. There were quite a few weeks left to figure things out. No need to panic just yet.

"Beth wouldn't join another glee club just like that, right?"

Jackie stepped in and reminded her that her current problem was of a whole other source. Jackie, of all people. Beth had expected her to tabledance over her leaving behind new solo spots.

"They don't even know I used to be here" she muttered, feeling sorry for her old friends who were staring at her like their life depended on her being loyal to them or not.

Mr. St. James nodded heavily.

Then, all of the sudden, a sinister smile crept on his face.

"You could befriend them."

Beth frowned.

"Ask them about their lives."

"I don't see where you're going …"

"You can spy on _them_!" Nora blurted out.

Everybody seemed to admire that idea.

"That's right!" Jackie yelled excitedly, "And then you text us about the kind of music they're doing!"

"And the dancing!"

"And what their director tells them!"

Beth felt funny once again. She didn't know if she liked the way things were going. It was a great feeling that all those people wanted to rely on her … but she liked the few New Direction members she'd met so far. Could she do this to Linaya?

At the same time, she couldn't think of joining New Directions without thinking she'd work for the enemy.

For god's sake.

She shrugged. "I can try."

"Oh, they're _so_ going down!" Jackie hugged her.

But Beth wasn't planning to follow the instructions.

She would consider her options. Maybe she wasn't brave enough to talk to unpopular kids in public, but that didn't mean she was going to hurt them.

Vocal Adrenaline was a swirling, hungry hurricane that was incredibly hard to resist once you got in its radar. And if she didn't pay attention it would draw her right back in.

* * *

><p>Beth was happy about cheerleading practice and hard classes.<p>

It meant that she didn't have to think of spying. After all, it was harder to cut the string connecting her to VA and Carmel than she'd thought. She still had the feeling she needed to repay them for something, that she couldn't just forget them. Maybe because Aaron was part of that world. So she had to talk to him eventually. If it was possible to be part of McKinley and still in a relationship with a Vocal Adrenaline boy.

She feared that conversation, but it was inevitably. So she welcomed everything that didn't remind her of the demands of her former friends and Stames.

When Linaya hinted again that she should join glee club, she refused once more.

Last week she hadn't want to because Vocal Adrenaline would have been against it. This week she didn't to because Vocal Adrenaline was probably for it, and it left a sick feeling in her stomach.

It was weird how quickly things changed.

For a moment, she reconsidered it. She could join New Directions, pretend to never have been in show choir before, have fund with her new-found friends and text tiny tidbits of information to the old ones, so casually that she could convince herself that it was nothing.

Then Tamara screamed "BULLSHIT!" straight through the classroom and Beth smiled and thought: _I second that._

The people here were too nice and interesting to throw it away just like that.

A warm feeling spread in her stomach. Oh god. She started to _like_ them.

"Don't get all dreamy, Q!" Sue Sylvester shouted, causing the secret grin on her face to disappear in an instant as she almost crashed into another girl during the intro of their choreography.

"What's the matter with you?"

Beth couldn't quite place her tone. Was it plain mad? Or did she detect a little worrying?

Coach Sylvester looked down on her.

"Are you pregnant, or what?" she spit out, and that was definitely mad and caused a few girls to frown and look at Beth who could do nothing but shrug.

"What was that for?" the mouthed towards Melissa who only shook her head.

But Sue Sylvester wasn't done yet.

After angrily accusing her of something she'd never even dreamed of before, her voice softened up again.

"You wouldn't do that, right? You're a good girl, _Beth_, nothing like … "

She paused and stared at a point somewhere far behind their heads, leaving all of the girls in sheer confusion.

And Beth stood there, feeling helpless.

_That was the first time she called me by my actual name._


	12. Chapter 12

_In which Beth finally kind of finds the right direction for herself and some people get really upset over her without her knowledge ..._

_Introducing yet another point of view._

* * *

><p>On Tuesday, Blaine repeated the jumping-on-the-desk-game.<p>

This time, Beth, the new student, was one of the first to jump up. He was so proud. When he'd first met her in the hallway, right after the slushy facial he remembered himself _way_ too good; she didn't strike him as much of an outgoing personality.

Now it looked like it was going to change. That was a reason why he had become a teacher – to bring out all the potential in children.

"I'm Beth Corcoran and I'm adopted" she said, which filled the room with sounds of astonishment.

Blaine froze.

Something about that phrase sounded weirdly familiar. Like something that was supposed to ring a bell, but didn't. He just couldn't put a finger on it.

So he ordered his students to talk for twenty minutes.

It wasn't unusual for him; he liked that method to improve the very important group dynamics. Normally, he would give them quotes or terms do discuss, or make them change topics right when they were about to get really into it.

But this time, he just listened. Of course they were interested in Beth's adoption story.

"I have only my mom, but she moved in with her boyfriend now" she explained.

"Do you know about your birthparents?" Alec asked rapidly.

Blaine smiled. That boy was too curious for his own good.

Beth didn't seem to mind the question.

"I don't actually want to know them. My mom and I agreed on that. But she says it has something to do with teenage pregnancy …"

And that was it. Blaine remembered all of the sudden.

Kurt had told him about her.

The Beth that was sitting here in his classroom, finally starting to bond with the class, was the same Beth Quinn had given birth to all those years ago, before Blaine knew them.

His mind was spinning the rest of the class.

"Mr. Anderson, you look sick" Tamara noted eventually. She sounded seriously worried. Even though she might be a little rebel who didn't care much about rules and courtesy, she honestly cared about people.

"It's just a little headache" he said, playing it down with the most charming smile he got. Kurt had said people would believe him anything like that.

He noticed that some of the students were still staring at him worriedly.

"Anyways, let's just call it a day, right guys? You won't be mad to get home early."

"Mr. Anderson, we have glee practice" Everett stated precociously.

"Yes, you wanted to work on our harmonies today, remember?" Eliah grinned, feeling exactly that his teacher was off-clock and not going to call him out for getting too familiar.

Blaine heard their voices but he could only see Beth, who looked around, amazed who seemed to be in the glee club, oblivious to what she suddenly meant.

She looked so much like Quinn that he wondered why he hadn't noticed before.

"I'm sorry, you have to do with Mr. Shuester for today. He always has some eighties in his sleeve."

Some of the students groaned, and usually he would have told them do be nicer or something like that, but there was Quinn's daughter sitting right in front of him and all he could think of was: _I need to tell Kurt._

He packed his stuff hastily, feeling the cold sweat on his forehead while the students didn't really know whether to stay or to go.

"You are dismissed" he told them with a wink and they started to get up.

"Get well soon, Mr. A" Tamara told him.

Eliah and Phillip both patted his back before leaving.

Most of the students mumbled recovery wishes as they walked past them, and even though his feet desperately wanted to make a run, he forced himself to wait until the last of them was out of the classroom, so he could switch off the light and lock the door.

He caught the look of Beth smiling at him shyly.

"Have a nice day, Beth" he told her softly, not caring about the fact that he hadn't actually told any other students goodbye.

As he madly walked down the hall in the opposite direction most of the students were disappearing, he really felt a little sick.

He hadn't even been there during the whole baby drama.

But he remembered hearing plenty of it.

And there Beth was, apparently unknowing that she had just returned to the place that cared about her most.

* * *

><p>As Beth walked down the hallway with her classmates, she felt Mr. Anderson's eyes burning on her skin.<p>

Since she'd started talking about her adoption, he had been behaving strangely, and now he was just leaving without giving them a proper reason and forgetting about his own rehearsal after school.

Not him, too.

There were too many teachers already that acted like she was some sort of a reincarnation or … wait.

She heard Jesse St. James' voice again. _Of course, it's in your genes._

_No, Rachel isn't your mother._

_Are you pregnant?_

But Mr. Anderson was much too young. He couldn't have taught at McKinley during a time about 17 years ago, when a pregnant girl wandered through those halls, unlike Mrs. Shuester and Coach Sylvester.

She wasn't good at guessing people's ages, but so much she could tell.

Her mother had gone to this school. Beth was never as sure as in that moment. Her eyes started to wander, wondering if she might have even been born inside those walls, making her a story the faculty would remember even next century.

"I don't want to know!" she whispered, screaming in her head.

She really didn't. But she couldn't help wondering, she never could.

"Well, that was weird" Linaya said, and for a moment Beth thought she meant it the same way that she felt, when she remembered that she hadn't actually told anyone about the creepy theories she had sometimes.

Beth shrugged.

"I don't know, sometimes a virus works pretty fast."

"It could be the flu" Everett said, horrified. "That would knock Mr. Anderson for at least a week, and it's highly contagious."

"Let's hope not" Belle joined in loudly, and it was the first time that the cocky ginger really participated in one of their conversations. "Firstly, theater class is the stepping stone to my career, and secondly, Mr. Shuester is okay, really, but without Mr. Anderson he re-warms terribly shallow songs from the last millennium all the time."

She threw her hair back and glided away like the swan princess.

Linaya took a second to watch her disappear around the corner to the ballet hall, then she shook her head.

"I think she has a little crush on Mr. Anderson…" she whispered. "She always tries to flirt with him in glee club. You should've seen her face when we went to his house last year to celebrate Nationals, and he had a husband."

"Oh. I mean … okay?"

Beth wasn't homophobic at all. But she hadn't even thought of the possibility that the charming theater teacher could be gay … well, thinking about it now, it _was_ kind of obvious. He was far too nice and concerned to be a normal straight guy.

Linaya laughed. "Believe me, they are so adorable!"

Beth nodded, and thought of Rachel's dads, who probably would be adorable as well once they got over the awkward.

And then the door of the bathroom right in front of them opened, and she nearly got a heart attack.

It was Melissa, looking great as always in her uniform and staring at them in complete disbelief.

Beth desperately wished that it didn't look like she had too much fun walking around with a bunch of nerds, geeks and weirdoes.

They had been split up in smaller groups, she and Linaya with Everett strolling behind them, then Tamara with the football boys, followed by everyone else in silence– Aashi, Alec, Ben and Bert - except Belle and the triplets, who had parked their car on the other side.

Now they clumped in a cluster of theater kids; and unfortunately Beth was in the front row.

But Melissa didn't stare at her, but at everybody else, and they stared back.

"Melissa" Linaya spat, and there was hostile muttering accompanying it.

The head cheerleader stepped back, lifting her arms against them.

"I don't know you" she said in a voice that supposedly sounded cold, but displayed a lot of defensive as well.

Her eyes grazed over Beth, giving her unmistakably command to forget the whole scene, before she said: "I have to go back to class. See you later … freaks."

She turned around and walked away, faster than she'd normally done.

"What on earth was that?" Beth asked nobody specific.

"Bert, get lost" Ben said after a while of still standing, and just as Belle had talked to them for the first time earlier, he talked to someone in general for the first time.

At least as she remembered him in class.

"But why?" the plumb boy whined, before the collective glares of Phillip and Eliah shut him up and let him follow the instructions rather quickly.

Beth was even more confused after that.

All of the other students were staring at her, before Linaya finally said: "Follow me."

She led Beth to the music wing, everybody else behind them.

Beth was silently wondering what this strange group was up to. She had figured already that Linaya, Everett and Tamara were that close from glee club, and that Belle, Aashi and possibly Eliah were part of it too, explaining the close atmosphere of them in class.

But that didn't explain how Ben, still pale, dark and quiet as a vampire, who always seemed like he was lost in some other world or dimension, Alec who never stopped rambling about strange "news" that nobody was interested in and Phillip, who made fun of each and everyone of them all the time, were part of this group.

Linaya pushed her in a chair, and they all stood in front of her.

It was a little scary, as most of them had crossed their arms, and now they were all taller than her and she was here in the unmistakably Cheerios uniform that definitely didn't belong …

"Look Beth. We didn't really care about this before, you know? But you proved to be a great person to hang around; and it's kinda your right to know."

The other students nodded in unison.

"We haven't actually talked much" Ben said softly – _true_, Beth thought – "But you _do_ belong to us, if any of us want or not."

"We are all part of the glee club" Linaya continued.

"All of you?" Beth asked to make sure she understood right. All of them?

"All of us, plus Belle and four others, and minus Bert and the triplets" Alec nodded quickly, "They're really just theater nerds. Useless for us."

"Look, Beth. We're not trying to talk you into joining glee club. We would like it … but that's not our point. It's about Melissa."

"Huh?" Beth blurted out. She had expected by now exactly what Linaya had started with – that they'd try to convince her to join – and already made up excuses to buy her some time, but that was a direction she didn't thought of. Besides the fact that they started this after the encounter with Melissa.

"Is it because she saw us together?" The glee club was unpopular after all, so maybe there was something with the "we-don't-know-each-other-out-of-class" deal they had to discuss now.

"Well, kind of" Linaya replied and sat down on the chair next to Beth.

"Melissa used to be one of us."

"_What_?"

"Believe us or not" Tamara answered dryly, "But it _is_ possible to do both glee club and cheerleading."

"But I don't understand …"

"Look, we didn't exactly part under the best circumstances. There are some rumors going round about us, we don't now for sure …" Linaya explained.

"… But we think Melissa has a great deal to do with" Alec finished, grinning grimly.

"She's scared of us all together, and she would never attack us in public or anything … but she tries her best to get us down. And she's sneaky."

They all shared worried glances.

"Beth. We really don't want to upset you or scare you or anything. But you better be careful around her. Don't give her a reason to think that you prefer us over her by all means."

"But I like you guys!" Beth protested weakly, resulting in some smiles by the others.

"Trust me" Linaya replied, "You don't want to show that until you have established your status here…"

"And if you like …" Everett said quietly, not quite sure of himself, "Well, you could join us, right?"

"Everett!" Linaya screamed. "I told her she doesn't have to. It's quite a burden to carry, you know, especially since she's never sung at all and stuff!"

Beth watched them argue over her and felt the sudden longing to be part of this.

"I lied" she said.

Suddenly, all eyes were on her again.

"_What_?"

She couldn't help but start sweating.

With closed eyes she continued, hoping that she wouldn't ruin everything. But those people had trusted her even though she wasn't one of them, and they deserved to know the truth.

"I wasn't homeschooled. I went to Carmel High."

Several gasps answered that, some sooner, some later.

Linaya narrowed her eyes.

"Wait … does that mean you were part of …"

"Vocal Adrenaline" Tamara finished dimly. "I _knew_ I had a funny feeling about you."

"You lied" Everett repeated, and the innocent shock in his voice was what hurt most.

"I'm so sorry guys, I just … you kept talking about VA so badly, and I was scared …"

"Did you try to spy on us?" Alec asked sharply.

"NO!" Beth contradicted immediately. "That was the reason why I didn't want to join you right away, okay?"

"Oh wow" Linaya muttered.

And Beth felt so guilty, because she kept the little visit at Carmel High on Saturday to herself. But hey, if they knew that they had actively encouraged her to spy, that would only worsen things, right?

"Well, at least we know now" Aashi said with folded arms and looked at Beth. "You should join us so we can keep an eye on you."

"No way!" Tamara said, and Eliah nodded. "She's still nice, great, and I really appreciate that she got the balls to tell us, but we know how Vocal Adrenaline has always worked, right?"

The others mumbled things and didn't dare to look at Beth after that statement.

Linaya glared at Beth.

"I'd trust her" she whispered, and Beth was incredibly grateful for that. She felt terrible to push back this group of people that had showed the decency to warn her of Melissa, and that were … yes, friends.

"We have to talk about that" Alec announced and waved to his classmates who followed him to the corner.

Wait … were they discussing whether Beth was allowed to join the glee club?

It definitely sounded like it.

But she hadn't even made the decision to join yet.

Well. She would just go with whatever they offered her, because yes, she liked them better than Melissa. And maybe it was about time to try out the unpopular side.

After a couple of minutes they came back.

Linaya spoke.

"We go on like this for the rest of the week – we have an Invitational down at the Elementary school on Saturday, you can come and watch without fear of being spotted by the jocks or anything. Then on Monday, we talk again if you think you would like to join us. Sounds alright?"

"Yeah" Beth nodded. It sounded very alright.

* * *

><p>When Blaine returned home, Kurt wasn't there, of course.<p>

He cursed himself for not going to the garage immediately instead, before he dropped his back and got some water.

Maybe he was being a little melodramatic when he sent a text to his husband asking him to drop work and come home right away.

_Are you okay? Did something happen?_

Blaine grimaced, thinking that he had just worried Kurt without reason. Quickly he replied that everything was fine.

_What is it then? Did you get a puppy and can't wait to show it to me?_

He could feel the sarcasm dripping out of his phone. It would probably be the best thing to let it be and wait until there was no work in the garage left and Kurt would come home normally.

But Blaine was still shaking nervous, and there was no way he wouldn't at least let his husband know what he was feeling so funny about.

_You remember the new student in my theater class? I think its Quinn's daughter._

He sent the text and sat down on the couch, staring at his phone. It took Kurt much shorter than usually to reply.

_I'm getting Mercedes. We'll be home soon._

Blaine frowned. His feeling hadn't cheated on him. This was a big deal after all.


	13. Chapter 13

_Well. I could go on with excuses, like too much schoolwork and trips and holidays and stress, but I'm just gonna leave it. Gotta admit though that Season 3 side-tracked me a little bit in my determination to go on with this fic, as I have now a new canon to compete with._

_(Also I started tons of other fanfictions on my computer that I got interested into more, which I know for sure I'll never finish, because it would be freakishly long for me ... Sorry. Damn. Didn't want to apologize so much.)_

_But I think we can all agree that I'll pretend the Shelby storyline there never happened ;)_

_So, I don't know if I'll be updating again soon, since this is the last finished chapter I got, and I have to study a lot recently._

_Thank you for sticking around though!_

* * *

><p>"You better tell me right now why I had to drag Tiffy and myself over here, or I'll be gone again in no time!"<p>

Blaine could hear Mercedes' frustrated voice even before the key moved in the door and Kurt stepped inside, accompanied by his friend and her five-year-old daughter.

"Just wait a second, Mercedes. Blaine will tell you right now, okay?" the man calmed her down.

Blaine was shocked to see that he hadn't even changed out of his working clothes. This had to be serious.

"What up, Blaine?" the tiny girl squealed and shook her head wildly, so that her black curls flew all over the place.

He suppressed an amused giggle before he waved to her.

"Hello Tiffany, nice to see you again!"

Mercedes' daughter chuckled before she ran over to the kitchen to get something to drink. It hadn't taken her long to know that she could do pretty much whatever she wanted in the Hummel-Anderson house.

"Can she listen to whatever you guys want to tell me?" Mercedes asked quietly when she was out of the room for a second, just to storm back in a minute later with a bottle of Gatorade.

Kurt shook his head, before he kneeled down in front of the little girl and took her hands in his.

"Look Tiffy, we have something very important to talk about …"

"Is it adult stuff?" she asked annoyed.

Kurt kept a straight face, while the other two exchanged an amused look.

"Yes, princess, and very boring adult stuff about money and work. But you are free to listen."

Tiffany grimaced.

"Can I watch a movie instead?" she asked.

Kurt smiled. "If you promise to keep the living room downstairs clean, why not?"

"I'm gonna watch the frog princess one!" she explained to her mom before she ran downstairs to get everything set up.

Mercedes sighed. "She has so much energy that I seriously question my grocery shopping skills when it comes to skipping sugar and caffeine."

"It's the age" Blaine offered, "She'll grow out of it."

"Let's hope so" the woman replied and sat down on the couch. "So what is this important thing to interrupt my Tuesday-afternoon routine?"

Kurt glanced at Blaine.

"Start from the beginning" he said.

Blaine nodded.

"This semester we got a transfer student…" he started.

"This is not going to be another Glee-club recruit story, is it?" Mercedes rolled her eyes.

"Mercedes, look at me!" Kurt commanded and pointed at his shaggy outfit.

She did so and giggled. "Okay, convinced. Go on, Blaine."

"Well, her name didn't sound very familiar to me, and I happily accepted her in the lines of my theater kids. I was a little confused, she's apparently a Cheerio … but somehow she just stumbled into that, because she doesn't have the attitude at all, she's pretty close with my kids. So well, I do this game when we all jump on our desks …"

"Yes, he still had his furniture fetish" Kurt commented dryly.

Blaine looked up to him and opened his mouth, but instead turned towards Mercedes again and continued with the story.

"Anyways, I did it today and she told the class that she was adopted. I let them talk afterwards and she said the only thing she knew about it was, that it was a teenage pregnancy."

Mercedes gasped.

Kurt, even though he'd already heard a summary of the news, finally sat down and ran his left hand through his hair.

"What's her name Blaine?" he whispered, and Mercedes nodded with wide eyes.

She knew where he was going, why it had been so important to talk to _her_.

Blaine didn't have to say the name anymore, but he did it anyways.

"Beth Corcoran."

"Beth" Mercedes said slowly, and Blaine honestly couldn't tell whether she was just repeating what he'd said or if it was the conclusion of her own thinking process after the key word `adopted´.

Kurt silently grabbed his hand and pressed it.

"So Shelby moved here with her."

For long, silent minutes they just sat there.

The faint sound of a Disney movie came from downstairs, but none of them seemed to notice.

"Should we tell Quinn?" Blaine asked.

"No" Kurt said. "You haven't seen her back then, Blaine. She has her pretty little life now, and I don't know how she would react …"

Mercedes nodded in agreement. "She ain't got a clue were her daughter is, she'd just drop dead if she heard of this."

Kurt got up and started pacing around the room.

"I don't get it. Everything was so clear – they agreed to have no contact at all! Why the hell did Shelby change her mind?"

Mercedes cupped her head in confusion. "I don't know, Kurt. I thought we would never see her again."

"Beth or Shelby?" Blaine asked, feeling awkward next to his husband and friend who seemed so worried about his news.

"Both" she said and shook her head. "We all understood that since it didn't work out with Rachel, Shelby wanted to start all over with Beth and concentrate on her family life … with no connection to Beth's or her own past."

"Yes. Some of us were hurt – "Kurt said and looked at Mercedes for a moment, "Because Beth had already touched our lives so much without being born, but we agreed."

"It was hard" Mercedes whispered, "But it was the right thing. No child should grow up with the lives and expectations of twelve people crushing her down."

"More" Kurt corrected. "I'm sure some of the teachers and parents were very involved as well."

He stopped walking and smiled bitterly.

"You know, if we had never found out about Puck … and if Quinn and Finn had kept her … I would be her uncle today."

"Kurt, don't even go there!" Mercedes said warningly.

"Sit down, honey" Blaine grabbed his hips and softly pulled him next to him on the sofa.

Kurt leaned on him and sighed.

"We have to stay rational about this" Mercedes continued. "We can't run around and freak out, okay?"

Blaine exhaled deeply.

"Let's just look at the facts. Quinn had a baby. She gave the baby away. Now the baby is back and running free around tons of people who used to care about her a lot. The problem is, we're supposed to pretend that we don't know her, am I right?"

"Point is, we don't know what we're supposed to do" Mercedes answered, "It seems very unrealistic to me that Shelby has forgotten us, after all. So why would she purposely come here and expect we act like … I don't know, like _we_ forgot or something!"

Suddenly she seemed to think of something.

"Blaine, how does she look?"

Blaine knew exactly that Mercedes wasn't curious about how pretty Beth was or not.

He swallowed hard and gripped Kurt's shoulder to hold on to.

"She looks so much like Quinn that I can't believe I haven't noticed earlier" he said calmly, even though he was shaking inside.

Then he bit his lip, feeling Kurt freeze under his touch.

"So not only do we have a lost daughter roaming the halls of McKinley, but she's a double of her mother as well?"

"This is bad" Mercedes noted, even before Blaine could back Kurt's statement up.

"Just think of all the people she could have run into! Mr. Schuester, Mrs. Pill … Schuester, Miss Sylvester …"

"Miss Sylvester!" Kurt squealed all of the sudden. Blaine almost jumped.

"What is it?"

"_Blaine_, you said she's a Cheerio!"

Oh no.

"Sue Sylvester has a memory to die for" Kurt explained nervously, as if they didn't get it already.

"So you think she … knows?"

Mercedes and Kurt exchanged a worried glance.

"Maybe" the woman said and shrugged. "It's likely, since she's probably even more like her mother in the uniform. Genes and everything, too."

"I really hope Shelby knows what she's doing" Kurt said through gritted teeth. "She could've at least call Rachel to tell her or something …"

His voice died down as they all realized the same.

"Rachel!"

"I can call her" Blaine offered.

"No" Kurt replied determined. "We're going over. I have a feeling that she knows something. After all, she's returned to Lima in the same year as her mother, hasn't she?"

"So, you mean going over like … no warning?" Mercedes wondered.

"Yes" Kurt said firmly.

"What about Tiffy?"

"We just bring her. It's not like she isn't used to any of us, Mercedes. We'll let her finish that movie – I need to get cleaned up anyways. Then we're going."

"Good" Mercedes said and got up. "I'll get something to drink; I really need to calm my nerves."

* * *

><p>"I'm home!"<p>

Beth kicked her shoes off and dropped her bag right next to it, hearing Antoinette racing downstairs in an instant. It was weird how quickly this house had grown to her new home.

"Reminds me of last week much?" Shelby shouted back.

Next, she heard Taylor's deep laugh.

There was still some getting-used to do concerning him. But he helped a lot with it by being a great guy to the two Corcoran women.

"Mr. Anderson didn't feel so well, and practice doesn't start until five today" Beth replied, stomping up the stairs to cuddle Antoinette.

"Beth, your shoes!"

Beth grimaced and turned back to put her shoes in their proper place.

Really, there wasn't much of a difference to their old house.

"How was school?" her mom asked.

"Not bad" Beth replied, "I've got homework to do …"

"Wait, sweetie" Shelby interrupted her as she turned towards the stairs again to get to her room. "You haven't been talking more then two sentences with me whenever we ran into each other since Saturday!"

Beth shrugged guiltily. "Maybe? I have a lot of work to do for school …"

"Beth, what's going on?" Shelby said sharply.

It was the point when Taylor, who had quietly sat on the sofa in the corner, got up. "I should go and get gas" he said so warmly that it was easy to forget that it was just an excuse to give some space to the women.

Shelby shot him a thankful look as he walked past them, then pulled him towards her and kissed his cheek.

When she turned back to her daughter, her face was immovable again.

"Tell me, Beth. Is it something with Aaron?"

"Not at all" Beth snarled at her, suddenly so angry that it hurt. Why on earth couldn't Shelby just leave her alone?

She hadn't bothered with telling her about Rachel, or the fact that people around here kept reacting strangely upon hearing her name or adoption story, had she?

Shelby didn't even wince at her outburst.

"Beth" she began softly, "I know it's not easy. You have to find new friends, a place in the school, you need to get adapted. But I can't help you if you won't talk to me. Is anybody mean to you? Is a class too hard? Just tell me, honey."

And just like that, Beth found herself crying against her chest, because it really wasn't easy.

She realized how much she needed her mom to confide in, to talk about her worries.

Well, not all her worries since there was no way she would start with the whole adoption and Rachel story again.

But she told her about everything – about theater class and the deal, about her awkward visit to Vocal Adrenaline, about the run-in with Melissa and finally the offer from the glee club.

Shelby stroked her back all through it.

"It's okay, sweetie" she hummed in her daughter's hair.

"I just don't know what to do!" Beth whined. "I'd love to be part of their group, and sing and dance again, for that matter; but I'd feel like I'm cheating on them!"

"Shh, dear, didn't you already tell them that you were in VA?" Shelby tried to calm her down.

"But I can't tell them that Mr. St. James _told_ me to spy on them!"

"Do you plan on spying on them?"

"No –" Beth replied confused.

"See?" Shelby interrupted her, "So there's no need to tell them then, right?"

"Mom, why don't you ever tell me what you think?" Beth mumbled, half accusingly.

Shelby raised her eyebrows. "Didn't I just do that?"

"No! You just keep asking questions and let me find the answers myself!"

"Isn't that how it's best – let you find you own solution, instead of forcing something on you that you don't agree with?"

"You're doing it again!"

Shelby pulled her daughter in a tight embrace.

"Listen, sweetie, because I'm only going to do this once. I think that those kids from your theater class seem really nice, while the Cheerios are too much of Vocal Adrenaline for you to be ever happy with them. I think that you deserve to join the New Direction and that the guilt will vanish eventually, if you just keep yourself from thinking of VA. And I think that you are a very smart girl and have figured this all by yourself already, even if you don't want to admit it to yourself, because it's most comfortable to pretend to be happiest with whatever situation you're in. That's what I honestly think, and now go downstairs and do your homework!"

Beth receded and wiped the tears out of her burning eyes.

"Thanks mom" she sniffled and smiled at her softly before she got downstairs.

Oh dear, it was so good to talk to her again.

Shelby didn't judge her.

She was supporting in every possible way.

And once again Beth swore to herself not to think of certain people's strange behavior.

* * *

><p>Rachel certainly didn't expect them to show up in the middle of a Tuesday afternoon.<p>

Her facial expression changed between the pleasure to see her friends and the alarm of the unlikely combination – they had brought Tiffany, after all.

"Guys … good to see you again …" she said and hesitantly hugged each of them.

"Um … what brings you here? I mean, Kurt, Mercedes, we haven't met for a while, but why now?"

"Rachel we must have a little talk with you" Kurt said stiffly, and Rachel's face dropped.

"Oh god, did something happen?" she shrieked.

Mercedes slightly pointed to her daughter and shot her a warning look.

"I'm sorry … why don't you all come in first?" she excused herself and tried to hide her nervousness in front of Tiffany, who seemed very excited over the little trip they were taking.

They all went inside, taking chairs around the table instead of sitting in the living room this time.

"Would you like something to drink?" Rachel asked, her hands clasping together. "My dads are out for the week, so we can take our time here …"

While speaking, she hurriedly got some cups and tried to fill them with water without spilling everything over her shaking hands.

It was definitely time to release her from her ignorance.

"Rachel, I'm sure you have some old dolls or something Tiffy can play with?" Mercedes asked, drawling her words.

Rachel got it immediately. "Yes, sure. Come on, Tiffany, I have something for you …"

She offered her hand to the small girl.

"It's more adult stuff!" she whined, but took it anyways.

As Rachel led her away, the three adults at the table glanced at each other.

"Do you think she knows anything?" Blaine asked quietly.

"We're going to ask her" Kurt replied and folded his arms, staring at the door Rachel would come back through any minute.

"So, what is it?" the singer asked casually once she stepped in the doorframe.

"Shelby is here" Kurt said, each word falling heavily from his tongue.

Instead of being equally shocked as Mercedes and Kurt himself earlier, she sighed in relief and half-smiled, sitting down at the head of the table.

"And I thought someone had died!"

"Wait, you knew that already?" Mercedes verified, clearly shattered by Rachel's obvious lack of common sense.

"Of course, she is my mother after all. I met her at Vocal Adrenaline's sectionals two weeks ago, and her new boyfriend lives here, so they moved in with him."

She looked at them with innocent eyes and a wide grin, which made it incredibly hard to be mad at her for not telling.

"Rachel, why didn't you say anything?" Kurt asked calmly, but Blaine recognized the subtle anger in his voice.

He swallowed hard, praying for his husband not to be too hard on Rachel.

"Why?" Rachel asked, still smiling brightly, "We said we'd stay out of this!"

"How can we stay out of it when _Beth_ is running around in our hometown!" Kurt snapped.

Rachel's smile crumbled.

"But Lima has thousands of citizens … why would you even notice her?"

"_Because Blaine is a teacher at the fucking high school_!" Kurt shouted.

Blaine whistled quietly, exchanging worried looks with Mercedes.

"Oh …"

"That's everything you've got to say? Really, Rachel?" Kurt was seriously angry at his friend.

"I wasn't thinking –"

"Of course you weren't! Use your brain for once, Rachel Berry!"

"Stop it, Kurt" Blaine said softly and put an arm around his husband.

As unpleased as he was with Rachel himself, she already looked like she would tear up any minute if Kurt's rage went on like that.

"Look, Rachel" he continued, ignoring his death glare, "It's not like I am superstitious, but I believe that Beth can't randomly live next to her past without it being … fate or something that you run into each other. So we need to know what we're supposed to do."

He leaned forward, focusing on Rachel who bit her lips.

"Has Shelby talked to you about it?"

She moved her head in a way you couldn't tell if she was shaking it or nodding.

"Not … really. She told me that Beth doesn't know about our relations, and in her eyes we're just supposed to be friends. Shelby did move here because of her boyfriend, after all. I guess … she expects from you the same."

"Act like there's no connection?" Mercedes said frustrated.

Rachel shrugged.

"I don't know! I just like to see her around, you know. That kind of distracted me!"

They all fell silent.

"I'm sorry, guys" Rachel muttered, "It has honestly never occurred to me that Beth could mean so much to the people around here."

"It's fine, Rachel. We're just confused" Blaine tried to calm her.

"It's not!" Rachel ranted, "What if you're not the only ones who noticed? What if Beth finds out about stuff she isn't supposed to?"

Her eyes widened in horror.

"God, what about Mr. Shuester? And Miss Sylvester?"

"Way to go Einstein" Kurt commented grimly. "Guess why we thought it was so important to talk to you about it."

"Do you have her address?" Blaine suddenly asked.

Everybody stopped and stared at him.

"I do" Rachel said bewildered.

"Blaine, we can't just make another house call!" Mercedes protested.

"Yes, don't you think it's a little too much?" Kurt said softly.

"Why not?" Blaine said and threw his arms to both sides. "I really want to know what this is all about. I know that I don't have the same connection to this as you guys do … but you deserve a clear statement on how you should respond to this, don't you think? And since Shelby apparently hasn't bothered contacting any of you … hell, not even telling her own _daughter_! – We should have the right to ask her right away, shouldn't we?"

He breathed heavily.

"You're right" Rachel said. "We should go over."

"What if Beth is home?" Mercedes asked suspiciously.

"She won't be" Blaine declared. "I know the cheerleading schedule. Sue has practice at five every single night this week. If we drive over in half an hour, we should be alright."

Kurt smiled at his determination.

"I love you" he said softly.

The two women just grinned.


	14. Chapter 14

_And here I am again. Once month before the big finals that decide over my entire future or something, but of course I rather write fanfiction. _

_I wrote the last part of this rather quickly, as I first planned on including the next part in this chapter, too, but it got out of hand so I'll just leave this here ... hoping to get more done soon. Or not. We'll see._

* * *

><p>First they drove Tiffany home.<p>

Mercedes made sure that her husband was there to take care of her and their older son, Malachi, who got dropped off by a friend's mom from swimming practice around this time.

After she'd assured him to fill him in later with everything going on, she got back in Blaine's car.

"Let's do this!" she said resolutely before she fastened her seatbelt and Blaine pulled out of the Jackson – the name Mercedes carried for more then ten years now - family's driveway.

The ride over to Shelby's house was quiet.

They all looked out of their respective window, thinking about the upcoming confrontation with the woman that once was their competition, and that they had expected to never see again.

"I'm not so sure about this" Rachel said nervously. "If she wanted us to do something, she would have said so."

"Come on Rachel, don't chicken out!" Mercedes rolled her eyes.

"But it's rude!"

"Yeah, and it's so not rude to come here and put us all in a situation we can't deal with" Kurt said with a low voice.

Rachel kept quiet for the rest of the trip.

* * *

><p>Beth feared facing Melissa that night.<p>

On her way to the school, she played different scenarios in her head, just to make sure – Melissa being scarily sweet, Melissa being bitchy, Melissa ignoring her.

It was so stupid.

Why was she even afraid? It wasn't like her life depended on Melissa approving of her or not.

Still.

That was the way Melissa owned the school. She just had to look at you and you wanted do everything for her to like you.

Like in that old high school movie - _Mean Chicks_, or something.

Being a cheerleader was so easy. All you had to do was simply physical – from working out to smiling sweetly over the day. And with all the other things she dealt with besides practice, she couldn't really use any drama in the squad.

When she pulled into the parking lot, her pulse was racing. She waited for a moment, watching a group of other Cheerios pass by, checking if Melissa was outside right now. If she had to face her, then at least somewhere with witnesses. And a teacher.

After everything was clear, she hastily jumped out of the car and grabbed her bag from the back bench.

Somehow it had gotten stuck, so she pulled with more force. In her current state, she was incapable of just bending down and unfasten whatever had entangled there, and as the bag just wouldn't come out, she leaned back, one hand on the handle.

Of course it was just then that it decided to unstuck.

Beth awkwardly fell backwards, the bag right on her face, too fast for her to do anything about it.

She didn't land on the asphalt, though, but on someone's legs.

And yes, they were Melissa's. How could they've been anybody else's with her luck.

Beth slowly looked up, halfway upside down in a very unfortunate ankle, so that the other girl covered the upper range of her vision.

She instantly closed her eyes again. _Just pretend it's because of the sun._

"Need help?" Melissa offered her hand.

"Thanks" Beth said nervously, silently waiting for her to push her back to the ground or something equally evil.

But Melissa didn't do anything. She just waited for Beth to clean herself up and then walked with her towards the gym in a silence that wasn't even that awkward

Still, Beth was extremely nervous.

"Melissa …" she started off, not knowing how to finish.

"What?" the head cheerleader asked, smiling friendly.

"About this afternoon …"

Her smile didn't break, not even the tiniest bit.

"We don't have to talk about it. You should make sure, though, to not be seen with them anymore."

"Oh. Okay" Beth replied, stunned by her calmness.

Melissa stepped ahead to open the door and turned around to her.

"I understand that they seem nice, and maybe they told you differently about me. But they can be cruel, believe me. You don't want to get into that."

"I guess not."

Beth fumbled with her bag's zipper nervously. _So now they are the bad people?_

Melissa's smile brightened even, before she entered the school with long steps, so that Beth had trouble keeping up at first.

"Wait!" she called, running to close up to her "How cruel?"

Melissa just threw her hair back.

"You don't want to know" she answered quietly, and though the corners of her mouth were still bent upwards, her eyes were cold.

This wasn't a girl that got hurt and tried to warn a friend – this was a girl that knew exactly what she wanted other people to think and do.

Beth shivered.

"I would be especially careful of that Tamara girl" Melissa went on nonchalantly, "She might seem like she doesn't care about her reputation, but she tries to pull people down with her all the time. You know, luring them into some corner with drugs so they get caught, while she gets away."

"But she … you know, she sounded nice when I talked to her" Beth replied carefully, but couldn't help but wonder.

Hadn't Tamara been talking about drugs the first day in theater class?

No. She wasn't going to believe this. Melissa was trying to manipulate her for whatever reason, but Beth wouldn't allow it.

"Yeah, that's her trick" Melissa reassured her. "But I saw you were getting along with Linaya, right?

"Right …" Beth agreed slowly, anxious to find out what Melissa had to say about her.

The head cheerleader just shook her head.

"I can't believe that girl, I mean, have you seen her hair? It looks like she put a rainbow skunk on her head."

Beth shrugged uncomfortably.

"I guess." She wasn't into Linaya's colorful style very much herself, and she was glad that it was the only bad thing Melissa knew about her, proving that Linaya's nice personality was definitely not an act. But she didn't want to gossip about her friend either.

_Wow, did I just call Linaya my friend in my head_?, she thought right after.

Then she smiled, because yes, Linaya was her friend.

"What did you think about those lemon sweatpants she wore in gym class last week? Weren't they just hideous?" Melissa continued, oblivious to the fact that Beth didn't want to take part in this kind of conversation anymore.

"Could we please change the subject?" Beth replied nervously as Melissa turned towards her, one hand on the doorknob of the locker room.

"What?" The eyes of the other girl narrowed coldly.

"Look, Beth" she said, retreating her arm from the door and crossing both of them across her chest. "You're a cheerleader, you are hot and you are my friend, which makes you top class at this school. Those glee losers are bottom. If you are one of those terribly nice people who can't say no to anybody talking to them, at least have the brains not to brag about your relations with them any more, or your status will drown in slushies."

She walked up close to Beth, looking her in the eyes.

"I am merely offering you a chance to fit in" she whispered aggressively. "It would help if you just stopped pretending that there are any connections to those people and play along!"

"Maybe I don't know anybody here very well" Beth replied, her voice shaking as she realized what she was about to do, "But they have been nicer than you so far, and I think we are real friends, not like you and I and the other Cheerios. Could it be that you are jealous? Huh?"

Her voice had gotten stronger over the course of her little speech, but one piercing look of Melissa destroyed her newly found courage again.

Fear flooded her stomach as she watched the other girl.

"Never. Speak. Of. This. Again" she breathed, before she turned around and stormed into the locker room.

Beth exhaled deeply.

Okay.

In the future, she would just try to leave this and never bring up her _other_ friends in a conversation with Melissa again.

Great, now she already called _all_ of them her friends. Was it because of Melissa's agenda insisting that they weren't; a natural protest reaction of her brain to do the opposite than expected?

Anyways. For now, she was just worried about her future with the Cheerios. Not that she was afraid of getting thrown out, of course not. But maybe Melissa decided to turn everybody against her, because she refused to oblige to the head cheerleader's opinions?

Catching her breath again, she stepped inside the locker room.

Whatever might come, she could do this.

As two of the girls in there looked up to smile at her entrance, she felt rather confident that this was going to be okay.

* * *

><p>After Beth had left for cheerleading practice, and she'd kissed Taylor goodbye for his nightshift, Shelby just decided to sit down at the piano and train her voice again, when the doorbell rang.<p>

She frowned.

Who could this possibly be?

There weren't many people she'd met here so far, and even less knew her address. And none of those would just come and visit her without advance notice.

On the way downstairs she quickly stopped in front of the mirror to check her hair.

It could be someone important, after all.

Shelby usually didn't have any problems with composure. After years on the stage and years in which things had happened in her life that were definitely not normal, she had learned to control her emotions as well as her facial muscles.

Still, as she opened up the door and not only saw Rachel, but three other adults, two of them looking vaguely familiar, she had no control over her reaction at all.

"Rachel …" she started a little helplessly, glancing over the other three visitors.

"Um, good night, Shelby" Rachel greeted equally awkward, an apologetic sparkle in her eyes as they shot to the slim man next to her who had crossed his arms, looking rather displeased.

"I don't know if you remember my friends … Kurt Hummel" Rachel continued, pointing to him.

Yes, Shelby now faintly remembered him. The adorable kid from back then had grown up to a good-looking adult. But it nothing explained his almost aggressive expression to her.

"Mercedes Jones."

Shelby nodded in acknowledgement of the black woman who smiled at her nicely, much friendlier than Kurt.

"And finally, Blaine Anderson, Kurt's husband" Rachel closed the short introduction round.

Shelby reached out to shake the last man's hand, whose kind face didn't ring a bell.

Still, his name didn't sound new.

"Do I know you from somewhere?" she asked politely.

He grinned openly. "I'm your daughter's theater teacher" he said, quickly adding: "But I'm not here because of school" as her brows were narrowing questioningly.

"We would like to come in for our actual reason" Kurt said impatiently, taking a step forward to further stress the meaning of his words.

"I'm sorry" Shelby said quickly, wondering more what was going on, although she had a brief feeling of apprehension. "Come on up in the kitchen, just leave your shoes in the entrance."

She waved her guests in, pointing up the stairs.

"Give me your coats; I can hang them up – just take a seat …"

Shelby nervously ran one hand through her hair, forgetting that she had it fixed right before she'd answered the door.

For a moment she stood there, trying to compose herself.

Then, with regained confidence, she threw her hair back and walked upstairs, where the four people had gathered around the kitchen table already.

"Do you want anything to drink?" she asked politely.

If they were here for what she thought they were, she'd better made sure for a nice atmosphere.

"Just water, please, no ice" Rachel answered, and the others quickly nodded.

"Great" Shelby managed a smile before she got five cups and a glass can ready.

They were patiently waiting for her, and even though she thought she had it under control now, she was thankful for it.

"This is about Beth, isn't it?" she remarked confidently as she sat down with them.

"Yes" Kurt confirmed, leaning back. He shot an asking look to Rachel on the other side of the table, who shifted in her seat, seemingly unpleased with the role she was taking.

"We were … we were wondering what your intentions regarding your daughter … Beth … were" she muttered, unusually quiet for her theater self.

Briefly, Shelby thought about asking her why she hadn't brought it up earlier, but she sensed that they weren't here on Rachel's demands.

So she looked in the round.

"I take it you are the ones who rather wanted to know, since I already met Rachel since our relocation" she prompted.

As she had suspected, Kurt was the one to speak up. Calmly, but she could feel through his suppressed accusations.

"Today at work, I got a text from my husband" he explained slowly, "telling me that he'd recognized Beth in his class. As it turned out, he was absolutely right with his assumption, so we told Mercedes."

His friend nodded.

"I was thunderstruck" she added, biting her lips.

"We realized that we had no clue how to react to those news" Kurt continued, not trying to hide the accusing tone of his voice anymore. "All we could remember was an agreement that Beth would grow up without us, before she appeared right beneath our noses."

"So you wonder about my motivations" Shelby concluded.

"Basically" Kurt replied and crossed his arms again, waiting.

"And you do, too?" she asked Mercedes and Blaine, who had been rather calm during Kurt's announcement.

"Um, yeah, kind of" Blaine replied quickly, "I mean, I met Kurt right the year after the adoption, so I heard a lot and well … it's a little difficult for me now, how I am supposed to act in class, when I've heard so much about Beth that she isn't supposed to know. No, I really don't want to blame you for anything, I'm sure you didn't know! But … I guess, it would be nice to have some kind of direction, since I now know that she's the daughter of Quinn and everything …"

Shelby realized that for now, Blaine was the biggest problem. Kurt and Mercedes might have had an emotional bond to Beth over their shared past with Quinn Fabray and her pregnancy, but the danger of them running into her were pretty low, like she had assumed when thinking about it before moving.

She had to admit, she hadn't thought of the spreading of the story and affecting other people, like spouses who would then teach theater class at McKinley.

"I'm sorry" she simply stated.

Four pairs of eyes were looking straight at her.

"I thought there had passed enough time for her not to make a disturbance anymore. As Rachel might have told you already, I did move here because of my boyfriend, not to stir up old trouble."

Kurt caught her drift the fastest.

"So we continue to pretend that we don't know her" he commented, his face hardening.

She nodded. "Yes."

Mercedes gasped, while Kurt just looked like he'd known all along. Rachel and Blaine tried to keep straight faces, but it wasn't hard to see their brains working behind.

Shelby knew that it was almost insulting to come here, parade Beth in front of their noses and then practically command them to do nothing about it.

She'd seen them all in the hospital back then, waiting for Quinn and consoling her; and maybe it was cruel to keep them from meeting the baby from then they had cared about so much.

But she also wanted to keep Beth safe.

And once Beth got a hold of the fact how many people in this town actually knew her, she would find out the whole drama eventually, and Shelby wasn't sure if her daughter was prepared for that.

Or if it would strain their otherwise perfect relationship.

Right, she didn't worry about it first. She had actually thought that maybe it was the time for Beth to slowly discover it, but now that she saw all the other struggles her daughter was going through, she didn't need to add that.

"She knows that I had relations with McKinley" she eventually told them. "She knows that Jesse was dating Rachel, and that during the time close to competition, I came over to your school a couple of times. If she gets suspicious, blame it on her being my daughter. Say she reminds you of the old days of our rivalry."

When Kurt opened his mouth again, she knew that they weren't done yet.

* * *

><p>Beth was about to be late after her almost-fight with Melissa, so when she hurried into the gym behind the last of the other girls, she was just a little out of breath.<p>

So she was glad when Coach Sylvester called from the tiers: "No big warming up today ladies, we have a new choreography to learn! Five minutes, then you have to be ready!"

Okay then.

They ran a quick lap in the gym and stretched for the last few minutes, before the coach ordered them to take their places for the new choreography.

She had Melissa show them what to do up in front, and Beth was relieved. Since she'd joined the cheerleaders, she had only been part of old choreographies the others knew already and could teach her.

She wouldn't know how to deal with verbal instructions just yet, since she had no clue what half of their moves were called.

It was good that the coach yelled her orders along with Melissa's movements, so she could pick up a few of those terms.

Although she didn't think "Bonebreaker" was a valid name.

"Where's the fire, lazy-butts?" Coach Sylvester shouted furiously after the first three runs of the steps they'd learned so far, "You're a bunch of frozen ice cubes the audience will crash into like the Titanic and _die_."

Unsatisfied, she crumbled a sheet of paper from her desk and threw it in their direction. Some of the girls winced under her harsh words.

"Let's just throw in a pyramid then" the concluded harshly. "You, you and you – out!"

She casually waved three girls to the side as they were an uneven number to begin with.

"Okay, then you bunch of hunchbacks over there" she yawned, "bottom row."

The cheerleaders she'd been including in her sloppy gesture groaned frustrated.

Sue Sylvester just put her legs up on her desk, sitting there like it was her living room couch.

Beth shifted nervously when she wasn't announced to be in the second row either. She knew well enough that the position in the pyramid basically defined a cheerleader's social status, plus she hadn't been part of a big one yet and only knew the basics in theory.

"You sloth-ass, why again didn't I put you at the bottom? Switch with Doodle-Face right away!"

"Coach, don't you think you're being a little moody today?" Melissa said after a short while, annoyed by her rude tone.

Then she quickly put both hands over her mouth, but it was too late. The words had already escaped.

Beth heard the cheerleaders around her gasping, and she slowly realized what Melissa had done with that single statement as the coaches eyebrows pressed together so firmly that they appeared as one straight line.

But she didn't say a thing.

It was only after her instructions for the next row that she nonchalantly dropped: "I think, I'll put Anita on the top today."

"But I'm head-" Melissa protested right away, her voice even firmer as she knew exactly that she was being punished for her earlier outburst.

Sue examined her for a minute, as if considering.

"No" she sad, a satisfied smirk playing around her lips. "You're _leading_ the forth row, though."

Melissa snorted angrily and crossed her arms.

Beth should have known right away that her placement in the pyramid was fatal then.

The coach assigned her right on the edge above Melissa, so that the head cheerleader was half of her support. She basically relied on her not to loose her grip and fall.

Not good.

The first run, everything went well. Of course, they were far to slow for the coaches tastes, and there were too many insecurely shaking limbs to count, but everybody stayed in place and nothing spectacular happened.

But the second time, Melissa's shoulder suddenly dropped a few inches under Beth's hand, and she didn't have the practice to cover it up – she fell.

And with her, the entire pyramid went down.

Suddenly, there was screaming everywhere – the girls who had rather rough landings, the coach yelling at them, and Melissa shouting at Beth how the hell she dared to let go.

Beth just blinked.

It had happened too fast for her to clearly remember the exact events, and maybe she could have done better with more practice. But if she was correct, then it had been _Melissa_ to move out of line in the first place.

"Are you already trying to manipulate us?" Melissa accused her soundly, and Beth's ears turned hot as she saw some other girls watching from the corner of her eye.

"Maybe you consider staying still yourself the next time!" she yelled back defensively, just to have replied anything.

Melissa gasped overtly loud. The mouths of the girls around fell open.

"YOU. ARE. HORRIBLE" Coach Sylvester's voice suddenly rang echoed through the entire gym, louder as ever, keeping her from another hurtful reply.

It was the first time that Beth was actually glad for her aggressiveness, because now the chaotic shouting began once again, as most of the girls where to emotionally shaken to remember the coach's strict policies.

"SILENCE!"

That brought order back again. The girls stared up front in fear, their eyes wide and their mouths shut.

"You make me sick" the coach spit. "Just go home."

"But we still have over an hour left –" someone said.

Sue Sylvester snorted scornfully. "Go. And I don't want to see you back here tomorrow unless you clean up your act."

She set down her megaphone dramatically before she walked out the door, leaving the stunned cheerleaders behind who slowly caught up on the events.

Beth didn't dare to look up.

As sure she'd been of the fact, that it was all Melissa's fault – it made sense, after all, for her to cause disturbance and then blame it on Beth – she had a feeling that not many of the others were on her side exactly. And definitely not Melissa.

Eyes fixed to the ground, she hurried into the locker room to get changed as quickly as possible.

* * *

><p>"I'll try not to send her to …"<p>

Shelby thanked god that she was facing the front window as her voice faded, trying to calm down Kurt more.

Otherwise, she might have caught the motor sound too late, without seeing a flash of a green car outside first.

Nevertheless she turned completely white as she realized what this meant, jumping up immediately.

"What's wrong?" Rachel asked in confusion. "Did we offend you? Oh dear, whatever it was, I'm so sorry …"

"I'm pretty sure we did nothing wrong" Kurt interrupted her firmly, clearly disgruntled over the disturbance.

"I'm sorry" Shelby said as calmly as she could, listening to the car in front of the house positioning itself to park backwards into the driveway.

"But I think Beth is coming home early."

She looked back to the group at her table. Her eyes locked with Blaine Anderson's, trying to avoid any desperation in both her voice and her behavior.

"And I don't know about you, but I think she might have some rather awkward questions if we don't do anything."


End file.
